Nobody Said It Was Easy
by FlitwicksLittleBrother
Summary: Follow the Weasleys and Potters as they grow up... But will they grow apart? Sequel to The Magic Word Is Sorry, Not Please.
1. 26th March, 2024

Hi everyone. If you've only just stumbled on this story, you should probably read the prequel; The Magic Word Is Sorry Not Please. Otherwise you may be confused.

**_Disclaimer: _**_I didn't own the world of Harry Potter while I was writing The Magic Word, and I still don't own it now._

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><p><em><strong>Nobody Said It Was Easy<br>**_**26****th**** March, 2024**

Fred dragged himself up the stairs, opened the door to his apartment, and flopped on the floor straight away.

The carpet prickled his skin and made him sneeze, and the door was still open so a breeze wafted over him, but he simply didn't have the energy to move.

Then he decided, as he did every time he was stuck in this horrible position, that next time he was going to use the floo network or catch one of those horrible muggle planes to get to Australia. He was never going to apparate here again. Because even though it only took around 12 minutes to apparate from place to place, he was still knackered after apparating 42 times in a row.

Just quarter of an hour ago he'd been sat with James and Roxy, catching up as best he could in the only time he'd been alone with the two of them. He'd spent the rest of the weekend recovering from the apparition, or telling his parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles about his life. While Roxy and James updated the family on their lives weekly, Fred hadn't been home for 3 months and there was a lot to tell. Or, at least, his family seemed to think there was a lot to tell; _"How's Anna?" "How's your job?" "How is the weather in Australia then?" "Have you decorated your kitchen yet?" "Oh, you'll have to get a new apartment with a guest bedroom soon so that we can visit!"_

Fred was glad to be home.

Or, at least, he would be glad to be home when his brain had finally followed him to this country.

"Oh baby." Fred heard, and he saw Anna's shoes in front of his eyes.

He felt her hands on his shoulders, and took all the effort he had to kneel up, stand up, and drag his body towards the sofa, where he fell forward again.

"Sleep it off, okay?" He heard her say quietly, before he felt her lips on his forehead and then a blanket fall over his shoulders…

Next thing he knew, the sunlight was burning through his eyelids harshly.

He swung his legs off the side of the sofa, drifting into the bedroom to see an empty bed. The sunlight streamed into the room from the window and he blinked in the direction of the clock for a little while before he saw that it was three in the afternoon.

Sighing, he saw his tracksuit bottoms on the bed; he changed into them and walked into the other room, flopping on the chair by the kitchen table without bothering to look around.

"Morning." Anna said cheerily, and Fred jumped to see her jump up from in front of the oven. Her hair had grown since school, in a bob now instead of the old boyish cut. The Australian sun had left her tanned, while her hectic Quidditch schedule had left her skinnier than ever before. Her t-shirt was baggy and hung off her shoulders, while her shorts barely clung to her hips. "Or, you know, afternoon."

Fred just smiled, thinking that he would quite like to just sit and curl up with her for a couple of hours, doing nothing much except eating and laughing. "Thanks for leaving me to sleep."  
>"It's okay." She replied, standing up and walking towards him. She kissed his forehead, before sitting on the seat opposite him. "Thank you for not putting a shirt on." She joked, and Fred just laughed.<p>

"What's cooking?"  
>Anna laughed herself, "I was trying to make buns so you'd be impressed when you woke up."<p>

"Babe, you can't cook." He just laughed, "Besides, Grandma's been feeding me all weekend."

"Ah, yes." She sat down opposite him, picking up two mugs of coffee from the kitchen top and placing them on the table between them. She pulled out her wand and flicked it; the coffee started to steam and bubble, warm again. "So, how is everyone? Roxy, James, Louisa?"  
>"They're good, they're all good. I don't think James likes working at the shop very much, but Dad's officially retired now so there's no one else until Louis leaves school-"<br>"Al could-"  
>"Al's got scouts for the Appleby Arrows, Tutshill Tornados and Puddlemere United watching his last Quidditch match. He's practically guaranteed a job, since he told me that all he does is force the team to practice or fly around by himself."<br>Fred had managed to spend his first few hours with Al, before the new Quidditch captain had to head back to Hogwarts at the end of the holidays.

"So what else is going on at school then?"  
>"Apparently Rose and Scorpius never leave the head dorms. Al said they're at it all the time, which is disgusting-"<br>"Well we were like that last year-"  
>"Yeah, I miss that." Fred laughed, and Anna reached out and pretended to slap him around the face. But then her hand stayed on his shoulder, and slid down his arm until they were holding hands and they both knew that Fred wasn't entirely joking; he did miss some things about the way they used to be. So did she.<p>

"So, how are my girls?"

"Louisa got that internship with Aunt Hermione's friend, so she's pretty busy, but she and James are just as happy with each other."  
>"Roxy?"<br>"She's busy. Really busy. She got that job in the private department of Gringotts, but she just seems to live and breathe work."  
>"Sounds like her. Jamie?"<br>Fred sighed, "I didn't actually see him."  
>"What? Really?"<br>"Yeah, Roxy said he was working. Seems like the training for a healer is really hard work and he's up in a different part of London-"  
>"But they still live together, right?"<p>

"Yeah, Roxy said it was just schedules, normally he's not as busy."  
>But that wasn't entirely true.<p>

While Fred's sister said that her boyfriend was usually more available, Fred's best friend disagreed entirely. He said he'd hardly seen Jamie in weeks, that the guy was barely around. At coffee, James had scoffed when Roxy had apologised that Jamie wasn't there, but hadn't commented out loud.

Fred could tell that James and Roxy's differences were becoming more obvious to them, since they were the only two family members still at home. Ron made jokes about their bickering and Fred could tell that they really liked having him around to talk to for a change.

"How's Lily?" Anna asked quietly, knocking Fred out of his thoughts.

He just shook his head. "I asked Al and he stormed off."  
>"So no better?"<br>"No, no better."

The girl Fred had known last year, and the Lily that existed now, were exact opposites of each other. And Fred hated everything she had become.

The truth was that Fred felt like he should have done much more to stop it; he and James should have seen it coming, right from the beginning of Summer. Back when the train had got to London, and Jake had turned and said he was going home instead of staying with Louis; when they'd asked why he'd just looked over at Lily and walked away.

They should have known then.

Or maybe they should have known when she said she was staying at a roommates for the week, but was then untraceable for the entire time. She'd turned up on the doorstep and her eyes were barely open; Fred swore she had a five day hangover and they still didn't quite know what had happened in that week. But instead of knowing, and realising, and stopping it, Fred and James had just laughed it off and covered for her, lying to her Mum and Dad to avoid the hassle.

And then Fred left for Australia, and a month later everyone went back to school…

Things had gotten worse, somehow.

And now here they were; Fred had heard the stories but was sure it would be even worse if he was involved in everything.

All he knew was that everyone had given up on her. It seemed like Louis and Hugo quit first; the two of them attended the same party as her in the first week and had barely spoken to her since, because they'd resolved that _"they didn't know her." _Then it was Al. He and Rose had tried, of course; they locked her in her room and followed her everywhere, but it seemed there was just no stopping her. Lily had fought with Maddie over something, accusing her of only dating Al for his surname, before Al had jumped to his ex's defence and yelled at his sister. Then he'd written home to James, simply writing "_Do what you want, I don't have a sister anymore." _

Rose had been the only one holding on. She put her cousin in detention, wrote weekly updates home to James for advice; she'd even gotten Jacob Spencer expelled from school.

But it seemed Lily didn't _want_ any help. She seemed to do everything she could to push them all away, but Rose refused to budge.

Until Lily tried it on with Scorpius.

Then she was truly on her own.

"So Al said nothing? At all?"  
>Fred laughed a little under his breath. "No, not nothing. He said '<em>Lily Potter' <em>was '_an ungrateful bitch that deserved everything she got._'"

Anna just shook her head. "I just can't believe it." Fred just sighed, because he hated how much he could believe it.

The problem was that it felt a little inevitable, like there was always the potential for it to happen. He felt like somehow he'd caused it, by ignoring her; by never knowing who she really was until she was screaming it in their faces.

"It's not your fault, you know." Anna said quietly, Fred just sighed and felt almost exhausted because she could still read his mind after all this time.

The two of them sat, and looked out of the window. The sun was high and Fred could only imagine how bloody hot it would be out there when he finally bothered to get out.

Looking back at each other, they both sighed, knowing who they had to talk about next…

"Anything?"  
>Fred shook his head, tears rising in his eyes bitterly. "Nothing. Nothing new."<p>

Anna kind of slumped, her arms falling onto the table and her head resting on them.

Fred just traced soothing circles across her back with his fingertips, while she sighed deeply; he was almost too well trained in how to look after her.

He felt hatred inside him again, but not the kind of disappointed hatred he had for Lily. The way he hated Dominique right now was something different.

He was past being scared for her; they knew she was safe after all. Now he was just _angry _at her. So unbelievably angry at her for being so unbelievably selfish. He understood that she needed this, but he didn't understand why she had to be so brutal.

He'd never forget that day in November. It was her 19th birthday, and she'd left for France four months ago…

"_Has anyone heard from her since she left?" Brian, the auror who had taken over from Uncle Harry as head of department, asked. The entire family were forced to shake their heads. _

_Apparating home from Australia to sit around a table with four aurors and Roxy, Teddy, Vic, Anna, Louisa and James, was not the way Fred had pictured spending Dom's birthday. _

_Victoire sniffed, her fingers intertwined tightly with Teddy's, who just shook his head. Vic's engagement ring seemed to sparkle at them all gloatingly, as if it knew Vic swore there would be no wedding until her sister was home. "No one's heard from, or seen, my sister since July."  
>"She said she was going to stay with her grandparents." James said quietly. "But she didn't arrive."<em>

"_So you'd like to officially declare her missing?" one of the aurors confirmed, writing as he spoke._

"_We have to." Teddy said quietly. _

"_Our family are going crazy with worry. Our parents and grandparents, they thought the days of people mysteriously going missing were over. This is all so terrifyingly close to home for them." James babbled, before Louisa next to him started to sob and he turned back to her and stroked her hair._

"_I hate to ask this," Brian begun, "But do you think something's happened to her?" _

"_She wouldn't just leave." Anna answered, her voice louder than Fred expected. Fred agreed with her completely, and reality made his heart beat horribly in his throat. _

"_She would write." Roxy agreed. "She wouldn't do this to us."  
>"So you do think-"<br>"Someone could have taken her. Or…"  
>"Don't finish that sentence." Teddy commanded at James, before Vic and Louisa burst into fresh waves of tears. <em>

The prophet had reported it the next day, by which time Fred and Anna had already apparated home. A copy of it had been sent to them, though, and reading it in the official papers had just made he and Anna feel entirely helpless and stranded and unable to do anything but hold each other and cry…

"_**Missing: Dominique Weasley, 19. **__The famous Weasley family have issued a statement, declaring that Dominique Weasley, daughter of Bill and Fleur Weasley, has been missing for over four months. The family plead for information from anyone who has heard from, or seen, Miss Weasley within those months. Dominique, or "Dom" to her family, can be recognised by her blonde hair and blue eyes, in addition to the fact that she is a member of one of the most famous families in the world. If anyone has any information they are urged to contact the Ministry of Magic, who are treating the disappearance as "suspicious". "_

They didn't hear anything.

November turned into December and the Christmas decorations were put up. Christmas came and went and the family were reunited at their grandmother's house, with Dom's absence horribly obvious and making the whole thing so bittersweet that Fred almost looked forward to returning to the other side of the world.

Fred and Anna had gone home, unable to hide their disappointment; they'd hoped that someone might have got in touch over Christmas. That _she _might have got in touch.

And then Louis had got an owl at Hogwarts, on his first day back at school.

Of course, Fred and Anna, being over 10,000 miles away, didn't hear about it until three days later, and Fred hated that.

Not that the note said much.

It was unmistakeably from her, and entirely honest. And that just made it worse.

"_I'm okay. I swear I am, and I'm sorry for doing this to you all it's just something I need to do. Please carry on your lives without me because I don't know when I'll be home, or if I'll ever be home. I'm happy, happier than I've ever been; I'm not going to change anything here in case it ruins it and that includes telling you where I am. But I swear to you I'm okay; you can tell the world I'm okay and make the ministry take my horrible school photo off those posters. I'm alive, I'm happy and I love you so much. Dom. x"_

They'd not heard a word since; Fred and Anna's copy of it was still stuck to the fridge as if it brought her home a little.

But it didn't work.

She wasn't home and she wasn't here and all Fred knew from reading that damn note (it couldn't possibly be called a letter) was that she didn't want anything to do with them.

And Anna knew it too; and that's why she was a mess. And that was why Fred truly hated his cousin right now.

Moments later, though, Anna had sat back up straight and sighed, before standing up and turning to the fridge. Fred just watched; she hummed a tune to herself and Fred could tell she was trying to get back to normal.

Fred, though, was busy thinking about how much he'd hated that he found out about Dom's letter late. He hated that he found out everything late because he was so far away. He hated that he wasn't back home; he hated he was so far away from his sister and couldn't help her, and that his cousins were arguing for a way to pass the time.

He hated being in this damn country. He hated that he couldn't go outside in the day, because his skin burnt to pieces no matter which spell he tried. It was too bloody hot here all the time; it felt abnormal being hot over Christmas.

He hated the journeys here; he hated that he probably wouldn't be truly awake again in days because he'd had such a horrible time apparating here.

He hated his job. At first he thought it would fun to work at a bar, because he was partying and being paid for it. For a while it was fun, until he realised that he missed every night at home while Anna missed every day.

He was still happy with her, of course he was; if he wasn't he would have left a long time ago. But they weren't the same couple anymore. They were no longer the life-of-the-party, having-a-laugh couple; their spare moments were spent curled up together on the sofa and imagining what was happening in England.

Anna flopped back in the seat opposite him, having not gotten anything out of the fridge although she spent at least five minutes crouched by it.

"How was your weekend, anyway?" Fred asked, looking up and realising they hadn't spoke about anything but him yet.

Weirdly, she laughed to herself. "I've been waiting for you to ask that."  
>For a moment Fred thought he was in trouble, but instead she reached out behind her and pulled a letter off the counter, before placing it in front of him.<p>

"So, you need to read this. And once you have, you can choose entirely what happens next."

Then Fred panicked even more, because he irrationally thought she might be breaking up with him through letter, before remembering that they were adults now and far past those childish worries.

So he turned the letter over, to see it addressed to Anna. He glanced up, but she just nodded, as if telling him to go on.

The letter inside was formal, but he knew what he was looking at almost instantly; Mark Dowling, Anna's agent, had his name scribbled across the bottom of the page.

_Client: Anna Olivia Wood.  
>Dear Anna,<br>As we previously discussed, the Melbourne Macaws will willingly continue their contract with you, and increase their contract to 300,000 galleons for a one year contract. However, as per your request to investigate into UK teams, the Holyhead Harpies are willing to offer you a contract of 210,000 galleons annually, in a three year contract.  
>I would advise you to remain in Melbourne, due to the less permanent position and increased money, however Holyhead can offer more stability to you. In addition, the trials for the England team in advance of the World Cup are at the back end of this year, so that opportunity would be available to you if you were to play for a UK team.<br>I would appreciate your acceptance of an offer by the end of the month.  
>Mark Dowling. <em>

Fred, stunned speechless by a piece of paper for the second time this year, looked up at Anna who just shrugged at him knowingly.

"This time it's up to you, entirely. Last time you followed me, this time I'm following you."

"Do you mean that?" Fred asked, looking up at her and watching as she nodded. He stood up, and took her hands in his and pulled her up with him. "Where would you be happier?"

"Anywhere I'm with you." She shrugged, and he smiled, before squeezing her hands tighter as excitement built inside him at what he was about to say.

"If you're sure-"  
>"I'm sure."<br>"Then we're going home.

And not everything was fixed. In fact, everything still felt broken. But Fred knew it would be easier to put it all back together again if he was home. If he was with his family, and friends, and people who knew and loved and accepted him. Because if there was one thing he'd learnt from his year in Australia, it was that he couldn't survive without Anna. But he also couldn't survive without his family.


	2. 14th May, 2025

**_Disclaimer: _**_Harry Potter isn't mine, isn't mine, isn't mine; Harry Potter isn't mine, isn't mi-ine._

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><p><em><strong>Nobody Said It Was Easy<br>**_**14****th**** May 2025**

Lily didn't like the new Headmaster of Hogwarts. She may not have liked McGonagall, but at least last year, when McGonagall had been headmistress, she had only been in this office twice. This year, however, she had been in Professor Davidson's office fourteen times so far; she'd been put of academic probation three times and was banned from Quidditch. She'd been suspended just before Christmas, but she just referred to this as her extended holiday, and now she was here again and waiting for her parents to arrive.

Truth be told, she hoped for another suspension, since she was fed up of waiting for the Summer holidays. Then she could come back for her last year, and once that was over she'd be free.

Because she would be back next year; there was no way she wouldn't finish at Hogwarts. She was a Potter, and they simply wouldn't expel her. Her father wouldn't want her expelled, and no one would want to upset the man that everyone owed their lives to.

So she just sat, her legs crossed, and smirked as she looked around the office that she'd actually become rather used to. The pictures looked down judgementally; some of them tutted at her, but didn't offer their comments unless the headmaster asked for it.

Lily just looked straight up at them, her arms folded, as they shook their heads.

There was only one portrait that she couldn't look in the eye.

In fact, as her eyes drifted in _his _direction, she was forced to look down at the floor and sigh to herself for a second.

Then she recuperated, pasted the uncaring smirk back on her face, and looked straight ahead blankly.

When the door shut behind her, she still didn't turn. Only when she realised she could only hear one set of footsteps did she look up.

Her brother stood there, looking older than he had last time she'd seen him in Hogwarts. His hair was better cut; he was wearing a suit and tie and Lily wondered whether Louisa had picked it out… Mostly, though, he didn't look like he used to because he wasn't smiling.

Not that Lily had seen James smile at her recently. He tended to look at her exactly as he was now; with his mouth clamped shut and his eyes angry.

Lily couldn't concentrate on her brother, though, because she wondered where her parents were.

"James, where are Mum and Dad-"  
>"They're not coming." He said simply, deliberately tucking the chair that was out next to Lily under the desk, and continuing to tower over her. "And I've persuaded Professor Davidson to give me half an hour with you, before he decides what to do."<br>Lily just shook her head. "I want my Dad-"  
>"He doesn't want to be here. And besides, you and I both know you only want him here because the headmaster won't exclude you if he's here-"<br>She hated that he'd seen right through her. "That's not tru-"  
>"Don't lie, Lily. Not that I believe a word that comes out of your mouth anyway." He leant against the desk, loosening his tie and sighing. "So, what did you do this time?"<p>

"Nothing." Lily answered easily. James just narrowed his eyes and Lily sighed. "She deserved it." She shrugged, nonchalantly.

"Really? Because I talked to Jake and-"  
>"Why would you ask what happened if you already know?"<br>"Why would you tell someone you slept with her boyfriend when you didn't?"

Lily just shook her head, folding her arms tightly. "She's not good enough for him-"  
>"You mean you got pissed off when he stopped spending all his time trying to help you?"<p>

She would never admit it out loud, but deep down she knew it was true. She couldn't help but be possessive over Jake; he'd followed her around and looked after her for over a year now, but only when she wanted him to. He used to literally do anything for her; even if she yelled at him to go away the night before, he would still be there with water in the morning.

That was, of course, until she kissed him.

She'd been entirely sober when she'd done it, feeling more human than she'd really felt in a while. Feeling more like herself, in fact, than the person she'd become.

The two of them had been sat in the Room of Requirement; Jake refused to let her go to a party in the Hufflepuff common room for her own good, and while she'd protested at first she'd given up eventually.

She'd copied his Potions essay out from last year, and sat and laughed as he told her about Louis' latest antics to win over Lucy Brown. Then they'd got deeper, and while Lily had tried not to she somehow let him in. She told him she was unhappy; that she wasn't sure how she'd gotten here but she daren't take it back now. She told him how much she missed Hugo and Louis, neither of which had spoken to her since that party in the beginning of her fifth year. She asked Jake to tell her everything he knew about what they'd been doing; who they were dating, whether they heard from her family… He just sat, and listened, and told her everything she didn't want to hear. _No, they didn't talk about her. Yes, they did say they hated her. No… he would never hate her. _

She'd kissed him, and he'd kissed her back before mumbling how much he'd missed her into her mouth.

Then she the girl she'd become seemed to catch up with her, because she laughed almost meanly and said _"Well, Jakey, tonight I'm all yours."_

He'd jumped up and yelled. Something about how he wasn't like all of the other guys who just wanted her because she was hot; he wanted her because he knew who she really was and he just wanted to rescue her and make it all okay. Instead of falling into his arms, though, and begging him to do just that, she'd stood up and yelled back. Yelled how he was nothing special and that she'd didn't need him, and _really, why didn't he just leave like everyone else had? _

And he did. Next thing Lily knew, he was going out with Amy McCintosh again. Weeks passed, and he didn't say a word to her.

So she decided to do what she seemingly did best; pull his life apart.

She told Amy she slept with Jake; she gave dates and times and places and _really, why wouldn't he, Amy? _ She believed her. She broke up with Jake, apparently, and Lily thought it was over.

Until Lily found herself being tacked to the ground by Amy, outside the Quidditch pitch. The older girl yelled that Lily was a lying bitch but Lily fought back just as hard.

And now she was here, and her brother was looking down at her and shaking his head.

"When are you going to stop pushing people away, Lily? Or am I just going to have to get used to the fact that this is my sister now? This horrible, lying little girl, who still has blood behind her fingernails and a skirt that's been shortened so much it barely qualifies as a belt? The girl who has barely any family anymore, because she doesn't see them. She doesn't go home, really, over the holidays, even though school says she got on the train. She doesn't talk to her cousins in school and heaven forbid she actually asked how anyone at home's doing." Lily just looked at her lap, and let his words wash over her, trying not to react. "Do you even care, Lily? Do you realise what a joke you are; that this behaviour isn't cool it's just embarrassing-?"

"What have I done that's so bad, huh?" Lily asked, finally having enough and standing up and getting ready to yell at her brother just like she yelled at everyone else.

She remembered when she'd yelled at Laura Spinnet. She'd been scared of retaliation; amazed at how cutting her words were but terrified that she'd push her offenses just a little too far. Nowadays, though, she knew exactly what to say and she didn't care if it hurt. She almost looked forward to someone yelling back at her, just so she could carry on with her wounding words.

"I've had a couple of boyfriends; Dom did that-"  
>"A couple? Lily, you're a… I don't even want to say what you are!"<p>

"I'm no worse than Louis; you've never called Louis any names; he's practically a legend! And so, I've been to parties and got drunk; hell, you all did that. I've got into fights; you practically killed Scorpius! Everything I am, is just what you guys made me-"  
>"Don't even bother, Lily. We've spent enough of our time beating ourselves up over you; you're not going to guilt trip me over this."<p>

It was different, Lily found, arguing with James. He sounded like her father, who so rarely shouted. Somehow, his words had the same slant as hers as well; he had the same ability to entirely slice her heart into pieces with each thing he said. Not that she'd admit that.

"This is not our fault. It's your fault, and only yours. And it will _only_ be your fault if they expel you."

Lily couldn't hold her reaction back. "They can't expel me; please don't let them expel me!" James blinked back, and she knew she'd let her vulnerability shine through for a moment. So she folded her arms and narrowed her eyes a little. "Do something! You're my brother; help me! Or are you just going to let me down again-"  
>"I have never let you down!" James yelled in reply. "I was a good brother to you Lily, and you can't deny that. Hell, we were a good family. We care about each other, Lily, and even if we don't talk to each other every day we just know that deep down the other's there." He shook his head, his voice quietening. He leant on the desk, and Lily watched as his shoulders slumped. "But you're not there anymore, Lily. You're pushing us all away and now you can't blame us if we don't like you-"<br>"You hate me-"  
>"No. We could never hate you."<p>

Somehow, that hurt more. It was easier when she thought they hated her; it was easier not to care.

It was easier to push them all away, because she told herself that they were so easy to get rid of that they'd never really cared. Hugo and Louis left her when Spencer announced he'd slept with her; Al left her when she'd got in an argument with Maddie and he'd taken the blonde girls' side.

She'd practically tested them, to see who cared most; the boys gave up easily, but Rose refused to let go.

Instead of appreciating this, though, Lily had just worked harder to get rid of her.

She used to admire her cousin; Lily and Rose had even once been the "ugly Weasleys" together. Lily sometimes felt like Rose understood her most, being the youngest female Weasley.

Other times, though, she realised that Rose didn't understand at all. Because Rose had a perfect life; she was head girl and everyone loved her and she had Scorpius. She'd still acted like she understood, though, and that had annoyed Lily. She would sit down and try and talk about things, but Lily wouldn't listen. She'd grounded Lily in her dorm and that just made her angry… And then she'd gotten rid of Jacob, who had almost become Lily's partner in crime; she reported to McGonagall that Spencer was acting increasingly distastefully, he was observed for a month, before he was expelled with barely any notice. And that had just made Lily more angry at her cousin, because now she swore she was the only person in her school looking to have any fun.

So she'd tried to think of how to finally stop Rose meddling in her life, before she realised that she had been stupid not to see it before; Scorpius was everything to Rose. Without him, Rose had nothing. And if taking everything away from Rose was what it took for Lily to be left alone, then she would stoop that low.

So she did. On Valentine's day of all days, Lily had attempted to kiss Scorpius. Of course, he'd pushed her away and run straight to Rose, and since then Lily's cousin hadn't said a word to her.

None of them had, in fact. Lily was almost entirely alone in school these days. Other than Jake, but now even he was gone.

"We don't hate you. Not even Al, when he's the angriest he could possibly be for everything you did, not even Rose when she thinks about how much she risked for you, not even Louis when he writes letters home to us, telling us what he's heard about you… Not even they hate you. If they hated you, they wouldn't care so much."

Lily sat, her feet almost giving way underneath her. She still didn't give up though, even though her heart beat fast and begged her to just crumble.

"You don't understand. None of you-"  
>"No, we don't. It must be hard to be the youngest, Lily, and I understand that because it's hard to be the oldest. But you're right, I don't understand how you turned from the sister I loved to this. But I know that my sister's somewhere deep inside you and even if you don't care… Lils still does."<p>

Tears rose to her eyes when she heard that name; she'd not heard it in almost two years and while she hated how much it made her feel like a child, she loved it as well.

"Please let me help her." James sighed, crouching down in front of her.

They both had their mother's eyes; Al had Harry's and they were both quietly jealous of that, but their brown eyes sparkled in exactly the same fierce way that most Weasleys' did. Both pairs of eyes locked on each other, and Lily realised that she hadn't hugged anyone in years…

She still didn't give into tears. In fact, she flinched when he reached out for her hand.

She couldn't do this; she was stuck. She couldn't change back now, there had been too much damage, she had too much of a reputation. If she turned weak again, then everyone she'd ever hurt would be able to get back to her; she would be too vulnerable. But she felt like if she didn't try, she would lose her entire family as well; people that deep down she still hadn't given up on.

So she chose not to say anything. She just blinked and twisted her fingers away, and James sat down and leant his head back on the desk.

"Would you like to know how everyone is?" He asked, his voice delicate as if he appreciated that Lily couldn't speak. "Since we haven't really had a chance to talk since… Well, it's been a long time."

She nodded, still trying desperately to hold on. Hoping something would tip her back to normality, and she would be able to leave here and go back to the life she'd created for herself, where she relied on no one. Rely on no one and you can't get hurt, she'd realised.

"Well, you know Hugo and Louis are still here." He laughed under his breath, his voice so soft that Lily remembered when he used to read her bedtime stories. "Hugo works really hard on his studies these days; even Louis says he never sees him. Louis works hard too, but he still parties; mostly so he can keep his eye on you for us."

Lily had never felt anything like it before, but her heart felt almost like it was aching. Aching, and wishing, and hating itself for ever doing this to her.

"You probably don't know, but Rose and Scorpius moved in with Maddie and Al. It's quite a funny story actually, because the boys bought an apartment entirely separately from the girls but they still ended up with two flats above each other. It seems there really is no keeping Rose and Scorpius apart."

Her heart ached even more, pumping blood around her body that seemed to be laced with regret. She'd never wanted this, she thought, any of this…

"And Al, well, he had his pick of teams so he, of course, chose Puddlemere United. He and Anna are training for England now, as well, but I'm sure you've read about that sometime... Rose and Scorpius got internships; Scorpius is in the auror department and Rose is in law enforcement. Fred took the shop back, so I got onto the same auror training programme as Malfoy. Me and Louisa moved in together last month; it was weird to finally move out but it felt like the right timing for us. Lou's got an actual job in the ministry now, so we were both moving to London anyway. It means almost the whole family's down there now. We keep bumping into each other in the Ministry or Diagon Alley and it's weird because we're not entirely part of each other's lives like we used to be and… Sorry, I'm babbling."

Lily just nodded, watching the way James' eyes drifted around as he spoke.

Their lives had carried on, Lily realised, even without her. She'd missed everything and the only person she'd really hurt was herself…

"Roxy and Jamie broke up." He said simply, and Lily couldn't help but gasp. James just nodded, as If he appreciated that she was listening. "It was a couple of months ago now, actually, but both of them were just too busy with work and… She's okay." He assured her, as if he was assuring himself at the same time. "Or she will be, at least."

Lily just nodded dumbly, expecting James to carry on. He didn't.

She was forced to look up at him again, not even sure when his eyes had focused back to hers or when hers had drifted away. "Dom?"  
>James shook his head. "Nothing."<p>

Her stomach sank, her heart almost cracking as it finally decided to overflow and let tears leak from her eyes.

"See, the way you feel right now is the way we all feel about you. Scared, and worried, but really nothing but hopeful that eventually you'll find your way home. Except we can help you."

He reached out for her hands and this time she didn't flinch. In fact she clung to him. "We can fix this; we want to fix this. We'll help you, we all will. Most of them wanted to come today but I thought I should do it alone because, well, you're my sister and I just… I just really need you to listen, Lils, because this is your last chance. Your last chance with us, and school and it's really just your last chance to undo all this damage. Please?"

And what could she really say?

Because her heart had won over everything. And her heart would always be connected to her family by something so much deeper than blood.


	3. 4th August, 2026

**_Disclaimer: _**_I don't own Harry Potter. Or Ron, or Hermione, or George or… I don't even own Rose, Al or James etc; they all belong to the amazing JKR._

* * *

><p><em><strong>Nobody Said It Was Easy<br>**_**4****th**** August 2026 **

Rose gazed around her apartment, hating how empty it seemed now Maddie's stuff didn't clutter it anymore.

She almost hated how irritatingly tidy she was, actually, since now her roommate had left the apartment practically looked abandoned.

It was the first place that had been her own home, and somehow it didn't feel like hers now she was alone.

And now she wasn't sure what to do with herself, because before Maddie would be bopping around and suggesting things to do.

So she sat on the floor, next to her bookshelf, and started reordering her books to pass the time.

Then she came across the book she and Scorpius shared.

They'd used it almost every day since the last day of sixth year; planning dates and meetings, passing notes in McGonagall's office and lessons… She skimmed it, finding some of her favourite entries.

_CHECK YOUR POST.  
><em>_What?  
><em>_ROSE, CHECK YOUR POST RIGHT NOW!  
><em>_Wait… Let me get up. Two minutes… Yeah there's no owl here. Why?  
><em>_THERE WILL BE.  
><em>_STOP WRITING IN CAPITALS.  
><em>_Okay. But… Just… Stand outside and make owl calls.  
><em>_What's going on?  
>You'll see… Rose? Rose write back? Wait, the owl's arrived hasn't it. You're being smothered in hugs by your family because we're head girl and boy!<br>__Apparate here. Right now. _

She smiled to herself, remembering the madness of that day, smiling even wider when she realised there wasn't another entry until September because he hadn't left their house.

Then it was notes from their first night in their new dorms.

_I can't believe we're actually here.  
><em>_Me neither.  
><em>_I love you, head boy.  
><em>_I love you too, head girl.  
><em>_These dorms are really nice… but cold.  
><em>_Just cast some bluebell flames nearby.  
><em>…_No.  
><em>_Or you could pull extra blankets over you?  
><em>…_No…  
><em>_Or-  
><em>_Scorp, stop being so clueless and come and warm me up. _

She smirked, before flicking through a few pages and finding the only notes in the book that still reduced her to tears.

_Rose, I need to tell you this, but I can't tell you to your face because I don't want to see your heart break. You can come and talk to me, or yell at me, afterwards, but I just need to write this out to make sure I've said everything I have to say. Lily tried to kiss me today, and I swear to you I didn't lead her on in any way and I in no way reciprocated, but I'm still so sorry. I'm sorry because I feel like Al and I have just proved you wrong; she can't be fixed and she can't be helped. And I'm begging you to give up on her so she can move on to self-destructing, instead of trying to destroy you. Please don't let her destroy us. I love you, Rose Weasley. I'm in our dorm if you want to talk. _

She had wanted to talk, of course, and ran through to the head's dorm and screamed at Scorpius for writing it all down before crying on his chest until they fell asleep.

She sat on the floor, crossing her legs and tracing over every page in their book that seemed to make up their history.

Tears started to drip from her eyes, and she suddenly really wished he was here.

She turned to the last page, and began to write.

_Scorp, I know you're busy but can you just come up here for-_

The doorbell rang, and Rose jumped up and wiped her eyes in the mirror before answering the door.

Scorpius stood there, 20 years old now. The longer hair he'd sported when they were younger was cut into a far more grown-up looking style, and he had stubble that Rose swore she'd never get used to. His eyes were the same though, and so was his smile.

"Did you read the message?"  
>"What message?" He asked, before reaching out and putting his arms around her. She was about to reply, but then just got lost in him and his chest and his scent and she didn't have anything to say anymore. "How are you holding up?" he asked, after shuffling forward with her and shutting the door behind them.<p>

"It's different. I miss her; I don't like being alone."

"I know, I remember what I was like when Al moved out."

She remembered what Scorpius was like then as well, and she'd taken the mess out of him for complaining so much.

Al had moved out at the beginning of Summer, into some new posh flat that was nearer to where he trained for England now. For a while, their living arrangements had been entirely perfect; Rose and Maddie lived in the apartment below Scorpius and Al, so the four of them still hung out almost all of the time. Rose and Scorpius used to hang out alone at one of their flats, and sometimes that meant kicking their flatmates out. Somehow, kicking Al and Maddie out often enough ended up in them engaging in a friends-with-benefits king of relationship that Rose and Scorpius worked hard not to acknowledge. Rose secretly hoped that they would end up dating again, but it didn't work out that way. Al started dating his team's cheerleader and Maddie screamed at him for it over laundry one evening. Then Al moved out.

And Maddie had gone as well; she got a job in the North and while Rose was really proud of her she hated that she was alone now.

"Can we talk about something else?" Rose asked quietly, turning and nuzzling her face into his chest.

"Yeah sure." Scorpius replied. "Al was in the papers this morning; they got pictures of him going into his new place with two girls."  
>"Two?"<br>"Well, it is Al." He shrugged. "Better than the five he had in there that morning when we first moved in-"  
>"Ew, yeah; when we could hear them? Eugh, that was horrible-"<p>

"Yeah, I haven't told you the best bit though."  
>"What?"<br>"Lily wrote the article that went with the pictures."  
>Rose laughed, and Scorpius chucked along. "Why would they ever let an intern write an article?"<br>"It's funny. I'll bring it down for you later; she basically tells loads of embarrassing stories about him, which entirely cancels out how cool he is to be with two women."  
>She laughed again, before smiling proudly.<p>

Lily had entirely turned her life around, something which Rose had given up on her doing.

She'd finished school now, with Hugo. The two of them had worked hard for their last year; Lily had even graduated with 3 Es and an O. Hugo had dated the head girl for the last year of school, but they'd broken up when school had finished. Lily had left with an offer from the Daily Prophet to be an intern over the summer; she'd accepted quickly and was working there for the moment. Hugo still lived with Rose's parents, but Uncle Charlie had got him a job to start in November, working with dragons.

Rose found it weird that her family wouldn't be represented in Hogwarts again next year, but liked that everyone was grown up now; it felt like a new phase in their life.

She hated that nothing seemed constant anymore, though; now everyone's lives changed as often as hers seemed to.

"Can you imagine everyone else's reactions, though?"  
>"James is just going to whine at training tomorrow isn't he?" Scorpius complained.<br>"Only because he's jealous. Fred'll wish he hadn't got engaged now!" She joked, smirking when she remembered the Christmas that had just passed.

Rose had prepared herself for a horrible Christmas. It was the third since they'd last heard from Dom, and Louis was travelling the world which meant that Victoire was almost missing her alone. Vic and Teddy's wedding was still postponed, but Rose got the impression that Teddy was getting fed up of waiting by now; he wasn't the same smiley guy he used to be.

However, the Christmas had been, in every way, so much better than she'd expected. It began with opening presents to find Fred throwing himself under the tree on one knee, to ask Anna to marry him. She'd said yes, of course. Then Louis had surprised them, impressively smirking in the fireplace before announcing "_Well, it was warmer in New Zealand!" _and stepping out with presents in his arms.

Then they'd all gotten the best present of all.

As always, owls arrived all day delivering birthday cards and presents from all around the world.

One addressed to _Mum and Dad _ was dropped on Aunt Fleur's lap.

She had, of course, ripped it open hurriedly, and they'd all seen Dom's messy writing scrawled across the Paris postcard.

_Happy Christmas, guys. I'm sorry I can't be with you, but I think I'll be coming home soon. I'm so happy here and I can't wait to see how you're all doing; sorry it's taken me so long to get into contact but I've been so unbelievably busy! I promise I'll be back before next Christmas, though; I have so much to tell you! Lots of love, Dom. _

And suddenly Christmas was a thousand times better.

"Nah, I don't think Fred will ever regret that. He gets to spend the rest of his life with the love of his life."

Rose smiled, sitting up. "You can be with the love of your life too." She leant towards him, before smirking. "You'll have to find her first but-"  
>"Shush." He replied, before he leant forward and pressed his lips to hers. "But I was hoping you'd say that."<p>

"Why?" She asked, leaning back again.

"I've been meaning to talk to you."  
>"Yeah?"<p>

The both sat up, Scorpius moving first and almost forcing Rose to twist onto the sofa so she didn't end up on the carpet.

"Look, I know we both said that we weren't going to rush things because we want this to last. But we have two apartments now, both of which are half empty, and we're almost never separate anyway and I…"  
>"Scorpius, are you asking me to move in with you?"<br>"With more words, but yes." He replied, looking up nervously.  
>"So you are?" Rose checked, her hands squeezing around his.<br>"Will you?"

She just smiled, leaving forward and putting her arms around his neck. "Yes. Yes I'll move in with you."

They'd celebrated their plans for the rest of their evening; rebelliously ordering pizza to the flat and curling up and planning in more detail where and when they were moving. They started collecting Rose's stuff, deciding she should move into Scorpius' because they preferred the view from his apartment, until eventually Rose fell onto the sofa, exhausted from all the excitement.

She woke up in her bed, with the curtains closed and her duvet tucked around her. She turned, to check her clock, to see the notebook lying on the bedside table.

Reaching out, she opened it, and saw a new note scribbled from Scorpius.

_Your alarm's set for 7.15 ready for work tomorrow. Your Dad dropped by as well; we're going to Bill's for dinner tomorrow night. I finished sorting through your books; there's a pile that we both have copies of that we could maybe sell back to Flourish and Blotts? Anyway, we'll talk more tomorrow; go back to sleep for now. I love you.  
><em>_Ps. I can't wait to live with you. _


	4. 2nd November, 2027

**_Disclaimer: _**_Big surprise; I don't own Harry Potter or any of the related characters!_

* * *

><p><em><strong>Nobody Said It Was Easy<br>**_**2****nd**** November 2027**

_Dominique Weasley never broke her promises. _

_So when she promised her family that she'd be home by Christmas, she did everything she could to stay loyal to that promise, no matter how much she wanted to procrastinate. _

_She apparated to the doorstep of the burrow on Christmas morning, at exactly 5.30. _

_While most of her was sensible and knew she was early, she still expected 15-year-old Lily and Hugo to already be awake with excitement at Christmas. But then she realised, sighing, that Hugo and Lily were 18 now; everything had changed since she'd last seen them. _

_Tentatively, with a cautious glance behind her first, she knocked on the door. When no one answered after a few minutes, she shuffled on her feet and knocked again._

_They couldn't have moved. They would never move, her Grandparents would never leave… But what if something had happened to them? What if no one lived here anymore and she would never find her family again?_

_She knocked again, a little more panicked, before hearing a low voice from the other side.  
>"Alright, keep your cloak on; do you have any idea how early it is?"<br>That was Fred's voice. Four years had barely changed it, yet she could tell they'd been apart for so long. Her heart seemed to ache at the sound, as if it had been reunited with something valuable. _

_She heard keys jangling, but stared at the wood with more intensity as she waited for him to open the door. _

_Then it swung open, and a man stood and looked at her from the other side. _

_21 year old Fred Weasley didn't look too different from 18 year old Fred Weasley. Only if you knew Fred really well, would you be able to tell the difference. But Dom did know Fred really well, and she could tell that his hair was cut slightly differently and was slightly less of a vibrant, youthful red. She could tell that he had more stubble than he used to and noticed, a little awkwardly, that his shirt was slightly tighter on him where it clung to muscles that before had just been bones. _

_Undeniably different, however, was the shock in his eyes; she'd never seen that look in 18 year old Fred. _

_He blinked at her, not saying a word.  
>She just stood and let him study her, knowing that she too looked entirely different to how she had last time they saw each other. <em>

_Her long blonde hair was short now, having been entirely chopped off in France, but now hung at her shoulders. She was more tanned, less made-up, and two rings shone from her left hand. Yes, a lot had changed about Dom since she'd last been in front of Fred. _

_Fred continued to stare, before his focus changed to behind her briefly. He blinked in that direction for a moment, before closing and opening his mouth. _

"_Bloody hell." He said simply, before turning and running back into the house, leaving Dom in the doorway. _

"_So, that was Fred." Dom said quietly, nervously, before turning and looking at Alfie, who stood behind her and smiled supportively. _

"_He looks different to how I expected."  
>"He looks different to how I remember him." She replied, sadly. He reached out and put his hand out, his fingers skimming along hers before they clasped together.<em>

_She heard nothing from the house for a little while, staring into it but not daring to step inside. It was cold in the Winter air, gazing in from the doorstep._

"_Look, this was a bad idea; we should go-"  
>"No." He shook his head. "Look at me." She did so; she looked straight into his brown eyes and found that she suddenly wasn't as afraid anymore. "You're going to be okay. We're going to be okay."<br>Dom just smiled. "They'll love you." She replied, before jumping when she heard footsteps thundering down the stairs. _

"_Oh my god it's true!" A voice yelled loudly, before Rose came bounding down the hallway. She launched herself forward, arms wrapping around Dom's neck instantly. Dom barely had a moment to recognise everything had changed in the other girl, only caring that she was finally reunited with her. "I knew you'd keep your promise; I knew it."  
>"Of course I did." She replied simply, her arms still squeezing her cousin tightly as she smiled down into her hair. <em>

_When they finally pulled away, Rose stood back and pulled the man behind her towards them. _

"_Good to see you, Dom." An older Scorpius smiled in her direction, as Rose clung to his hand and beamed at her. _

"_Come here, Malfoy." Dom replied, before scooping him into a quick hug that was cut short by another set of thundering footsteps down the stairs and blonde hair that shone from the end of the dark corridor. _

"_Sis!" Louis yelled, before he ran towards her and Rose and Scorpius practically leapt out of the way. _

_Dom took the second of running to look at him properly; the last time she'd seen him he was 16. Now he was 19, Dom found it was easier to list the things that had changed than the things that were the same. He was taller, more tanned, blonder, his blue eyes sparkled brighter… He was older now. But whether from miles away or up close with his arms around her, she still unmistakably knew that he was her brother and that he was still the same person. She wasn't sure if it was that he still had the same smirk, or that he still pulled away from hugging her quickly, but there was no doubt in her mind that inside he'd barely changed. _

"_You look so different, sis! How are you still taller than me?" He laughed, as Dom just tried not to tear up. _

_She smiled weakly, glancing around from him as the light turned on in the corridor, the footsteps quieter this time. _

_She was met with lots of eyes, all looking down from the other end of the corridor but clearly not coming any closer. James, Fred, Anna, Roxy, Louisa, Al… All of them in their early 20s and all of them looking different in ways that Dom couldn't easily identify from afar. But they all stared at her from there, as if they weren't sure she was real, or they didn't want her to be real. They whispered to each other, the girls folding their arms defensively. The boys didn't even look at her; they looked over her shoulder at Alfie behind her. _

_She opened her mouth, hoping whatever she was about to say would be accepted, before a girl bounded through and broke their line to run at Dom. _

"_You're here; you're actually here!" She exclaimed, not going close enough to hug her but looking at her and smiling.  
>"Lily?" Dom asked, blinking at the girl who stood in front of her; blazing red hair was almost all that made her recognisable. <em>

_A boy followed her, another that Dom could barely identify._

"_Hugo, look!" Lily said excitably, pointing at Dom before the two of them both walked forward and hugged her as if in a team. _

"_You- You've grown."  
>"It's been almost 4 years." Hugo shrugged, his voice low. Dom hated that she had to look up at him; hated that the two babies of the family stood before her looking almost as old as she did.<em>

"_I-" Dom began, before her brother jumped into action and yelled up the stairs._

"_Vic! Vic! She's really here! Teddy!" _

_More footsteps. Footsteps that terrified her as she heard them get closer. She watched as the others, those that had stayed away, lined the wall next to the door to the living room, in preparation of letting them past. Rose, Scorpius, Hugo, Lily and Louis congregated by the door, all smiling between themselves._

_Dom didn't know what she'd expected, but she hadn't expected them to change so little. _

_Vic and Teddy looked almost exactly the same as they always had; young and perfect. The two of them stood at the bottom of the stairs, blinking in her direction for what felt like forever. _

_Then Vic started crying, tears rolling furiously down her face, before she almost seemed to fly down the corridor and at Dom. _

_Dom wanted to run back to her, crossing the threshold into the house and out of the cold, but somehow felt she couldn't. She let her sister run at her, arms flying around her neck and tears falling onto her coat. _

_She was so busy never wanting to let go of her sister that she didn't notice when Teddy walked away and whispered with Fred and James._

"_Don't ever leave me again, please." _

"_Never." Dom shook her head into long blonde hair, tears dripping down her face in the same fashion, although she was unsure when they arrived. _

_Vic leant back, hands still clinging to Dom's elbow as she leant back to look at her. "You're actually here! Louis, look she's here!" _

_Her brother smiled widely, before the three of them hugged. Then Rose, Scorpius, Lily and Hugo were pulled into it, and for a few minutes or so they all just stood there, some of them bopping on their feet in excitement, hugging each other as the girls wiped away tears, pretending to be oblivious of the others who watched. _

"_Has the wanderer really finally returned?" _

_Dom heard her Grandmother before she saw her, before she looked over Lily's head to see Molly and Arthur walking towards them. _

"_Grandma I-"  
>"Welcome home!" Her Grandfather interrupted, hugging her tightly. <em>

_Dom felt tears roll from her eyes again unwelcomingly. _

"_It's lovely to have you back." Molly agreed, hugging her quickly before tutting. "Have you been stood out in the cold all this time? Well, you must come in! You and… Sorry dear, I didn't catch your name?"_

_Dom realised it was the first time anyone had truly acknowledged the man stood behind her, other than quick, confused glances in his direction. Or long, meaningful stares if you counted those that watched from the end of the corridor._

"_Alfie Cox." Always the perfect gentleman, he stepped forward at the right time and held his hand out to her grandparents. "It's wonderful to finally meet you, Mrs Weasley, Mr Weasley."_

"_Arthur and Molly, dear. Now, all of you go and make yourselves comfortable in the living room and Arthur and I'll make you all some tea."_

_Dom nodded, finally properly stepping inside as her grandparents hurried away. She turned and smiled at Alfie, who smiled supportively back at her. _

_Once Dom entered the living room, she found that everyone settled into seats on the seats or floor until there was nowhere for her or Alfie to go. _

_She suddenly realised just how big her family were, when they were all staring at her in the doorway._

"_Vic, where are Mum and Dad?" Dom asked quietly, everyone's eyes burning through her. _

"_There's not enough room for all of us here, nowadays. So we stayed here this year, and all the parents are coming for Christmas in the morning… Well, in a couple of hours I guess." _

"_Forgive us if you don't have a seat at the table, we just didn't know you'd be turning up." James said bitterly, and Dom couldn't help but flinch._

"_Nonsense dear, there's plenty of room. We'll just extend the table!" Molly tutted, a tea pot and stack of mugs floating behind her. James squirmed uncomfortably like a little boy that had been told off. But he wasn't a boy anymore. _

_The tea settled on the table, and Arthur reached out for a mug before Molly slapped his hand away. "You're grandfather and I are going to go back to bed for a couple of hours before we entertain, but you can all feel free to stay down here and catch up."_

_It was clear to everyone in the room that there was no questioning their Grandmother's rules; everyone else was going to have to stay and Arthur was going to have to leave; her Grandfather looked increasingly disappointed as he mumbled "good night"._

_Her Grandmother turned and kissed Dom on the cheek. "It's so lovely to have you back. Isn't it?" She turned and demanded a reply from the room. Most of them weakly agreed, while Vic, Lily and the others nodded enthusiastically. "Have a nice chat." Molly commanded before she left. _

_Then a silence fell over the room, and everyone's eyes focused on Dom._

"_So, you have a lot of explaining to do." Teddy had stated, crossing his arms. _

_She tried. She tried to explain the last few years as best she could, when she knew everyone was judging her. She didn't sit down; she didn't feel comfortable for a moment throughout her story, but she knew that they deserved the truth about where she'd been. _

_She started with her arrival in France, and how she'd been wandering down a street and saw an advert in a coffee shop looking for work. Entirely impulsively, she'd taken it, telling herself it was only a temporary summer job and that she'd go and see her Grandmother in a month or so. Three months later she still hadn't left. She was known as the "blonde British girl" by the locals, and ended up living in a shabby apartment in the backstreets of the city. She barely used magic; by Christmas her wand lay in a drawer by her bed. And she felt a freedom she'd never experienced before. _

_Quietly, Roxy asked how she'd known she'd been reported missing. She sighed and told them about a man, in bright green jeans and a Hawaiian shirt in early January, that had asked who she was. Impulsively, she'd replied in French and pretended she had no idea what he was on about. Then she'd cut her hair and scribbled a letter to Louis to make everyone stop worrying. _

"_Didn't you think about us? How much we worried-"  
>"We thought you were dead." Teddy said harshly.<em>

_Dom felt tears rising to her eyes horribly, and she sighed as Vic turned to him. _

"_Teddy!"  
>"What? She deserves to know what she put us through. While she was out there living the dream, we were reporting her missing to the ministry! There were posters of her everywhere and when we got close to finding her she ran further away."<br>"I'm sorry. I know that was selfish." Dom sighed. "I'm so sorry for doing that to you. I just wanted my life to carry on as it was; I wasn't ready to lose it yet."_

_They looked at her sceptically. When no one spoke, she'd carried on telling them everything. _

_Her life in Paris had been all she ever wanted. And then had got even better. _

_A man, the man who now stood behind her and smirked when she started telling the story, came into the café every day, making the same order and reading the same intellectual-looking books. He started to stay for longer and longer, until eventually he would be the last to leave every day. Dom couldn't help but stare at him every now and again; his eyes were such a deep brown that she thought she could easily lose herself in them. He had shaggy, dirty blonde hair, and was tall with wide shoulders._

_It was one distracting evening that she'd fallen over whilst clearing the tables, swearing loudly and mentally thanking that he was French so wouldn't understand… That was until he walked over, held out his hand, and jokingly told her off for her language, with a British accent to rival hers. He'd smirked, and told her his name was Alfred but she could call him Alfie. Telling him her name was Dominique Wesley but he could call her Dom, they'd cleaned the café together before exchanging phone numbers. _

_Dom's story was interrupted then because Louis and Hugo were amazed that she could use a phone. _

_Then she carried on, telling them about how her and Alfie's relationship had developed; she met his Dad, who was French, while his mother still lived in England. He was brought up half in France and half in England, but got a job in a bank in Paris so decided to stay there. They dated for a while, and as much as Dom tried to not to she found that she fell in love quickly, more than she ever had before. _

_As she told them this, she couldn't help but glance up at Teddy, who was staring at his feet. She had told Alfie all about herself early on, including being in love with her sister's boyfriend; she refused to have any secrets from him. He'd listened, cared, and then told her that he loved her anyway._

_They'd moved in together a year later, and then he asked her to marry him on top of the Eiffel tower._

_Only then had she realised what a mess she was in. Because he hadn't known she was a witch, and she had no idea how to tell him. No parents ever taught their children how to tell someone they were magical. _

_She chose New Years' eve of 2026, having written to her family and promised to be home by Christmas in case she Alfie didn't work out. _

_She told him she had something to tell him, and he said he had something to tell her too but she should go first. So she'd sat him down nervously, before mumbling away about how she was magical and that it didn't mean she was evil and it didn't change anything… He'd stared, unblinking for the longest that Dom had ever seen, and silence fell over them. So she thought that was the perfect time to blurt out that her surname was actually Weasley, not Wesley, in addition. _

_Then he'd replied, "Oh my god, you're Dominique Weasley" and Dom had looked back confusedly. _

_As she told the story, her family looked equally as confused. _

"_H-How did you know who she was?"_

_Alfie smirked, before pulling his wand out of his pocket. "Dom wasn't the only one keeping secrets."  
>Hugo's mouth fell open. "You're a wizard!" He stated the obvious, and Dom just sighed at how little he had changed. <em>

"_Yeah, I am-"  
>"You weren't at Hogwarts." Teddy stated. <em>

"_I was home schooled." Alfie replied easily, before shrugging and putting his arm over Dom's shoulder._

_Dom's story seemed to have trailed off… She turned and looked into Alfie's eyes and lost herself in just the same way she had on that first day. _

"_Sis, when did you two get married?" Louis asked, knocking the two of them out of their own world; they'd gotten so used to it just being the two of them that they forgot there were others in the room. _

"_And why weren't we invited? Or were you too busy living the dream in France to care about the people you'd grown up with?" James' voice was loud, and caused everyone to respond in some way. The people around him nodded in agreement, Vic and Louis protested loudly to what he'd said, Lily and Hugo pretended they hadn't heard him, and Teddy scoffed angrily._

"_Hey, you can't just say things like that-" Alfie started to defend her, but Dom hushed him. _

"_I'm so sorry. We had planned for you all to be there, I swear we had; it was going to be this Summer; we were going to come home around Easter and sort everything out."  
>"And instead?"<br>"Instead we told each other who we really were, apparated to Vegas, and got married. We went home, carried on working like always, then decided to go back to England. We needed a plan though, so we spent a while trying to sort everything and buying a house and getting jobs, and before I knew it, it was December and I realised that I was close to not keeping my promise. So now I'm back, and we have jobs but we're still working out a house but… I just had to be here. I couldn't let you down any more."_

_Now she'd told the whole story she just sat and looked at them. Admittedly, the whole thing had been rushed and hurried, and her explanation was in no way detailed, but she tried. _

_When she finished, though, none of those that had looked angry before looked in any way appeased. In fact, they looked angrier. James had clenched his fists and Fred had folded his arms; Anna leaned on him but frowned, while Louisa and Roxy both shook their heads. _

_Teddy's hair turned black. Then he spoke, slicing through the uncomfortable silence that had fallen._

"_So you had the time of your life, and you didn't tell us? You lived your dream, and pretended to be muggle for years, and you didn't tell us. You got married and you didn't tell us? You let us think you were dead for months and it never even crossed your mind how much we worried? You never even thought that your stupid 'I'm okay' notes didn't actually make us feel any better? You left us, and now you're just expecting us to let you right back in-"_

"_I'm sorry." Dom interrupted, moving away from Alfie's arm and stepping towards her family. Teddy had stood up as he spoke, and he now faced her head on as his eyes blazed. "I know how selfish I was and I know how much I must have hurt you but I swear I didn't mean to. I did think of you, I promise you I did." She glanced backwards at Alfie, the only other person who knew just how much she thought of them; she used to cry most nights when it dawned on her what she'd done. "I'm so sorry-"  
>"You keep saying that but it doesn't undo the last four years!" Anna said, frustrated.<em>

"_I am though…" She replied childishly, just as she always would when they were at school, before it dawned on her that they weren't at school any more. "I'm sorry I missed so much of your lives; I used to always wonder what you were doing…"  
>"Well, we can catch you up if you like." Roxy replied, in that way that Dom knew she had something up her sleeve that would hurt. "Only, it took over an hour to catch up on your life, but you missed out on twelve lives, so that's about twelve hours and I'm not sure we have that much time to spare." <em>

"_Rox…" Vic started quietly, to which one half of the room glanced up and glared at her as if about to start an argument. _

_Louis must have sensed it, because he spoke chirpily. "Well I'm glad you're back. Besides, there's not much to catch you up with; I finished school with pretty bad grades and now I'm travelling."_

"_Me neither; I turned into a bitch and then turned back to normal. Now I'm interning at the Prophet." Lily shrugged. _

"_I got taller?" Hugo suggested. _

"_I moved in with Scorp." Rose moved into her boyfriend's shoulder as Vic shrugged._

"_Nothing's really changed for me-"  
>"Yeah, we were waiting for her to come back to get married." Teddy said simply, shaking his head. <em>

_Dom couldn't bring herself to question why, she just blinked at him for moment before speaking again. _

"_I'm sorry I missed everything. But I swear, I'm going to spend every day for the rest of my life trying to make it up to you. I thought about you every day; I even wrote you letters-" _

"_We never got any." Louisa looked up. _

"_I never sent them." Dom replied honestly. "But I have them I-I just…"_

_She turned and reached into her handbag, where a pile of envelopes lay in waiting. Sighing, she pulled them out, deep down knowing that for some of them it was her last shot at forgiveness. _

_They were all addressed to different people; Anna, Roxy, Louisa, James… Different times in France, she had wanted a different one of them, so written to them. She'd just been too scared to send them in the end. _

"_It's like early Christmas cards." Louis joked, as Dom handed him the real letter she'd written to tell him she was okay. _

"_You don't have to read them now. Just, some day. Maybe then you'd understand."  
>It was like handing a piece of her heart out, but she wasn't afraid because of how much she trusted them.<em>

_James had just stood, holding the envelope, before announcing he was going to bed. Slowly, everyone had followed, Vic and some of the others hugging Dom on their way out. _

_When the room was empty, Dom turned to Alfie and sighed. _

"_Everything's going to be okay, right?"  
>"Of course it is; you're home." <em>

_It had taken a long time for everyone to forgive her, or even be on good terms with her. For months, Dom hadn't known where she stood each time she woke up each morning; one day someone would love her and the next they would be angry beyond words. _

_It steadily got better though, until eventually it was barely like she'd been gone. Occasionally, someone would say something awkward that would remind them, and occasionally Dom and others would get sentimental about her having left, but most of the time they just carried on as if nothing happened. They were stronger now; they got used to the new girl Dom had become and she was even happier now than she'd been before. _

_Well, almost everyone had gotten used to the new girl Dom had become. There was one person who still refused to accept that she was back, even refused to look into her eyes. _

_Four months later and Teddy just contented himself with glaring at her across a room, making snide comments under his breath. The rest of them ignored it, but Dom was beginning to lose her patience with it all._

_Especially since she had to spend a lot of time with Teddy lately; the second Dom had returned Vic had started to plan her wedding for that summer and it meant that by April they were almost permanently in wedding planning mode and Vic demanded that Teddy joined in. _

_Teddy just sulked though. And when Vic left Dom and him alone to look over suits while she went to the bakery, Dom couldn't stand it anymore. _

"_Will you stop please?" She asked quietly, and Teddy looked up from the page he'd been staring at for the last ten or so minutes and narrowed his eyes. _

"_Stop what?" He asked harshly, his eyes turning darker. She realised it was the first time she'd spoken to him alone since before France, unless you counted awkwardly trying to start a conversation by pointing out the weather._

"_Stop this. Look, I know you hate that I'm back and maybe even hate me, but I can't keep making an effort and getting nothing back. Everyone else is being okay with me, and you're marrying my sister so you can't ignore me forever-"  
>"Do you know how long it's been since I proposed?" He asked, standing up and looking away in the mirror. Dom could see his reflection as he seemed to study his own reflection. "Six years. Vic wanted to wait for you to finish school, so I did, and then she wanted to wait for you to come home. And I agreed to wait, Dom, because she wanted to."<em>

_Dom wasn't sure what to reply, so just nodded and watched as Teddy's eyes turned a perfect blue. He frowned, as if trying to change them, but didn't seem to be able to. _

"_I thought I was just waiting because she wanted you, but I wasn't. I realised sometime while you were gone that I was waiting for you because I wanted you."_

_He said it in such a throwaway way that Dom wondered if she'd heard him right; had he really just said something so life changing as casually as he'd talk about Quidditch?_

_He still looked in the mirror, but Dom couldn't help but rise from her chair as if her feet were trying to take her somewhere else… Maybe to Alfie? _

_Either way, when he saw her reflection join his over his shoulder he span around and pulled his wand out of his pocket, flicking it so Dom heard the locks on the doors. _

_She didn't panic, though, because he looked calm and his eyes were still such a pure blue that she felt she could almost see his soul. _

"_I waited for years for you to come home; sometimes it was even me who convinced Vic to put off the wedding. I was waiting for you to come back so I could fight for you; I thought we'd fight together and-"  
>"Teddy stop." She said quietly, and he did. He looked up like a child who'd been told off, and bit his lip. "Please don't do this; I'm married-"<br>"Exactly. I waited for that long, and you come home married. I waited all that time, and all I got from you was a letter you wrote three bloody years ago saying that you realised that you didn't ever really love me and that you were sorry for any hurt you caused but… You didn't hurt me. You made me happy; just thinking of you made me happier than I ever thought I could be and when you were gone I felt like a piece of me had gone too-"  
>Dom put her hands over her ears, tears in her eyes that she hated for being there. She felt like she was betraying everyone; she felt like she was 17 again. <em>

_She felt even worse when he took her hands in his own._

"_Dom I'm sorry. I'm sorry I'm not making things easy, and I know we're both with people but we could run away or-"  
>"I don't want to run away. I've run away before, Teddy. From you." She calmed herself down, keeping holding of his hands but changing the angle so she felt more in control. "I didn't mean what that letter said; I was trying to make things better for you, but I did love you. I still do, a little bit-"<em>

"_Well then-"  
>"But I love Alfie more. I realised that there's more to love than thinking someone's so beautiful that you might die, or having someone pay you attention; it's about all the little things that make the two of you perfect together. It's almost about thanking the universe every day that you were lucky enough to find them. When I dream, I don't dream of things that could happen with him; I just remember everything that has happened and wake up hoping for more. With you I just felt pain…"<br>He shook his head. "Please don't do this; I love you-"  
>"You love Vic." His head shook even more. "You do. You just want what you can't have; you don't want to grow up-"<br>"I want you-"  
>"And I want you to marry my sister. You're the man of her dreams…"<br>"She's not what I want!"_

"_You're not the man of my dreams anymore."_

_He dropped her hands and nodded, his eyes fading to grey as he looked at the ground. _

"_I waited for you." He said quietly. _

"_Well then please stop waiting, because nothing's ever going to happen. I'm married, but more than that I'm finally happy."_

_She pulled out her own wand and unlocked the door, before leaving and not looking back. _

_Since then, Teddy had stopped with the snide comments. Since then, Teddy had married Victoire. Since then, the two of them had sat down and had conversations that even ended in laughter. _

_They weren't perfect; they were still awkward if they were alone and Teddy and Alfie would never be happy around each other but they were better. And better was all Dom could ask for._

_She was just proud of her brother-in-law for doing the right thing, in the end._

She forced herself to stop thinking about the past, then, because she was crossing the street and it was suddenly more difficult to daydream.

Today she had news, but apparently she wasn't the only one. Anna had demanded they met up in the first place.

As always, though, she was the first to arrive. So she ordered a hot chocolate and curled up on one of the sofas as she waited for her best friends.

Eleven months after coming home, Dom sat in a cold coffee shop, loving that she could wrap up warm but missing French coffee, waiting for the girls to come and meet with her.

Louisa was first, and they smiled when they saw each other.

Dom still unable to believe just how little she had changed since school; she was still young yet seemed old beyond her years, her eyes still sparkled and her hair still curled perfectly; she still smiled widely almost all the time.

"You know the boys decided to meet up while we met up, just as some kind of revenge?" She joked as she took off her coat.

"Wait, really?"

"Yep; Fred invited James and Alfie 'round to his place while we were out. James threatened that he was going to out-gossip us."  
>"Oh no, that's not possible with what I have to tell you." Dom teased, and Louisa pulled a face as Anna and Roxy came in at the same time.<p>

As always, Anna looked perfect; she loved her job and never seemed to stop smiling and was generally the happiest she'd ever been.

Roxy was a whole other story. When Dom had come home, she'd been skinner than usual and looking tired, but that barely compared to how she looked now. She was so busy at work that weight had fallen off her, and she barely looked awake these days.

They both got coffee, and tea for Louisa, before sitting down opposite them.

The four of them caught up for a while, talking about work and other amazingly mundane things that Dom sometimes thought she was the only one to appreciate. They seemed to spend most of their time catching up since Dom came home; things seemed to change so quickly that there was always something to tell.

They planned Christmas this year; the few of them were going to try and do Christmas Eve alone at Anna's house before going to the Burrow for Christmas day. They talked about how everyone else was doing, laughing at Lily's latest article in the newspaper which had complained about how much her brother got around. Anna had laughed and told them about the coach of the Quidditch team yelling at Al for his behaviour. They all tried to remember whereabouts Louis was these days; whether he'd yet arrived in California or if he was still in Florida…

They talked until they'd run out of drinks, and Louisa stood up and offered to buy them more.

"Hot chocolate please." Dom asked, before Louisa narrowed her eyes.

"Are you kidding? You're practically a coffee addict-"  
>"Yeah, well I'm trying to avoid caffeine…" Dom said coyly, as Anna raised her eyebrows.<p>

"Why?"  
>Dom just smirked, before letting her hands rest on her stomach. "Remember when I said I had something to tell you-?"<br>"Oh my god!" Louisa yelled loudly, causing the rest of the café to turn and look at her. "You're- Are you?"  
>Dom nodded. "I'm pregnant."<br>"Congratulations!" Roxy said excitedly, before launching herself over the table to put her arms around her. Louisa threw herself down on top of them both, and Anna climbed over too until all three of them were piled on top of her.

Dom was confused as to why any of them thought they'd grown up. They were in their twenties, and piled up on top of a sofa as they had been back when they were fourteen.

"This can't be good for the baby!" Dom complained from the bottom, before the girls laughed and collapsed back onto the sofa.

"Wow, so you move fast. Engaged, married and pregnant in four years!"

"It's better that way; you've been engaged for almost two years!"

Anna was the one to smile this time. "We set a date."

"What? Really?"  
>"Yeah, 3rd March. And I'd love it if you'd all be bridesmaids."<p>

This time, Anna was the one at the bottom of the pile. Dom gave up on any ideas that the four of them had matured even slightly since they left school.

"Yes! Of course we will, yes!"

They sat down normally again, conversation turning to dresses and food and wedding-guests. Dom couldn't help but be pleased she hadn't gone through the hassle of it all.

After a while, they all had to leave; Anna worried that Fred and the boys would burn her apartment down before she made it home.

After another ten minutes of distracted conversation, they left for real. Dom apparated away, mind occupied with thoughts of everything else that was happening in her life.

She was going to be a mother. An adorable mixture of Alfie and her would be running around this time next year.

It seemed surreal, and it wasn't at all planned, but nothing in her life was ever planned and yet she was still happier than she thought she could be.

It was hard to believe how much everyone had grown though; she still couldn't believe she was married, or that Anna was marrying Fred. Or that Victoire had married Teddy…

She arrived outside her door, and walked inside and threw herself down on the sofa tiredly.

"Hey." Alfie said from behind her, before jumping over and landing next to her. He leant over and kissed her, and she smiled before snuggling into him.

"How was Fred's?"  
>"Fine. We talked about Quidditch the entire time. How was coffee?"<br>"Coffee-less." Dom complained, jokingly. Alfie's hands fell to around her waist and he smiled.

"You told them then?"  
>"Yeah," She turned her head a little to look away from him.<p>

"How long before everyone else knows?"  
>She smirked, looking into the fire. "Oh, any moment now."<p>

As she spoke, the fire began to crackle on cue, and seconds later almost all of her family surrounded her.

She celebrated her pregnancy just as she should have celebrated her engagement and marriage; surrounded by everyone she loved.


	5. 3rd March, 2028

**_Disclaimer: _**_Yeahhhh… Harry Potter is not mine. Never will be. How sad._

* * *

><p><em><strong>Nobody Said It Was Easy<br>**_**3****rd**** March 2028**

Hugo Weasley didn't know what he had expected from Fred and Anna's wedding, but he hadn't expected it to be quite so… them. Teddy and Victoire's had been exactly as a wedding should be; white everywhere he turned, with gold and blue shining through occasionally.

Today, however, Fred and Anna had managed to make their wedding perfect; perfectly everything that they were. It might have been the sparkles of emerald everywhere, or the multi-coloured fireworks that sparkled above their heads when they were married. It might have been that Anna's dress hung from her shoulders beautifully, or that her best friends couldn't stop smirking behind her. It might have been that they wrote their own vows, Anna's teasing Fred and Fred's full of innuendo and inside jokes… Everything about the day was entirely about celebrating Fred and Anna's love; exactly as it should be.

And yet, Hugo couldn't enjoy it. Thoughts hung over his head threateningly, and try as he might he couldn't concentrate on the magic of the day.

Wedding merged into reception easily, champagne was passed around and everyone settled into wandering around and chatting to each other whilst waiting for speeches or food or dancing…

"Nice wedding, wasn't it?" Hugo suggested to the Louis and Al, who both leant against the bar with him.

"I swear every wedding's the same." Louis shrugged. "Throwing your life away…"  
>"What a waste." Al groaned.<p>

Hugo just smirked at how cynical both boys were. Neither of them had come with a date, and both of them were looking out at the crowd for girls.

He ordered a drink, and laughed along with them as they started discussing the latest girls they'd been with.

Then he'd glanced up just in time to see his grandmother walking towards them, and whisked himself away just as Molly began to nag at the others for coming alone. Even at almost 80, she was still a force to be reckoned with.

He scanned across the room, looking at the rest of his family. Dom was noticeably pregnant by now; Hugo and the boys tended to avoid her in case she went into labour in front of them. She and Alfie were sat smiling at the table, with Louisa talking to them animatedly; probably about baby names or nurseries… Babies in general seemed to be the only conversation possible with the girls sometimes, especially with Vic having announced she was pregnant last month.

Hugo just sighed, turning to try and find someone he could talk to; someone he could tell about what was hanging over him.

Scorpius had gone to the bar, and was now chatting with Al easily.

Rose was sat at the table alone, and as much as Hugo didn't want to he knew it was now or never.

"Hey." He began, knowing how awkward he looked with his hands in his suit pockets.

"Hi." She replied. When he didn't sit down next to her, she looked up worriedly. "You okay?"  
>"Um," He began, feeling like a boy again. "Can I just talk to you outside?"<br>She stood up, shrugging. "Yeah, I guess. Are you alright or-?"  
>"Just come with me."<p>

He tilted his head towards the door, and Rose nodded and followed.

Outside the old hall, Hugo still didn't feel any further away from his family... He didn't feel further away from people who could hear what he said. He wanted to turn around again and go inside, because he didn't want to tell her this.

Not that he was ashamed. He wasn't ashamed; he'd never be ashamed anymore. He'd realised that there were more important things than other people's opinions of him; he wasn't prepared to lose those things for the sake of his own pride.

Rose looked nervous, her eyes darting up to him every few moments as they walked out of the door and down the garden.

He sat down on a bench, threading his fingers together and sighing.

"Are you okay?" She asked quietly, sitting next to him. He looked at her, and looked at her dress; it reminded him of what she had worn to the New Years' Ball at Hogwarts in his fourth year; he remembered that they'd jokingly danced together that night and that he'd felt like she was one of his best friends. He still felt like that now. He could trust her with anything, he knew that, but he just needed to remind himself.

"I'm fine." He replied, before exhaling. "There's just something you need to know."  
>"What? Hugo, are you sure you're okay because-"<br>"Sis, I met someone." He said easily, and she pulled a face.

"Well that's good news isn't it? Dear god, Hugo, you had me worrying you were telling me you were dying or-"  
>"I've been dating them for a while, actually; since sixth year, really."<p>

She frowned. "But you dated Hannah in your seventh year. Are you and her back together because you were really sweet-"

He shook his head, and she blinked back confusedly.

"I never went out with Hannah. She just agreed to pretend for a while, so I could hang out in the head's dorms."  
>"But why would you-?"<p>

"So I could be with Andy whenever I wanted."

"What? Hugo, I don't understand-"  
>"Rose, I'm gay."<p>

And just then, his whole life went flashing before his eyes as if he was dying. It was like a curtain, a whole three years of pretending to be something he wasn't, had fallen between he and his sister. Understanding crossed her, as if she was realising he'd lied for all this time as well.

Then she just smiled, and tilted her head. "Tell me everything."

So he did.

_He'd never been the loudest of kids at school; he was the quietest of the Weasleys but that didn't necessarily mean much. He was reasonable; he could converse with people just as easily as he could sit and think on his own. And somehow, without particularly understanding how, that meant that almost everyone liked him. _

_He spent his fourth year trying to be loud like his relatives, but by the end he'd given up and accepted that he actually much preferred it this way. _

_He'd spent fifth year accepting this, being quiet and watching as everyone else seemed to mess up; Lily fell apart, pulling Al, Rose and Louis down with her. Hugo just tried not to get involved, and quietly sat and hoped that Lily would see where she was going wrong. _

_Sixth year, for him, had been entirely life-changing. _

_It had started much the same as every year; rumours spread as everyone caught up with the Summer's events. The most gossip spread about Andrew Woodward, who had announced to his family and friends that he was gay and that it wasn't going to change. _

_Hugo had been friends with Andrew ever since second year Herbology with the Hufflepuffs. Andrew was another boy that everyone seemed to like, but who mostly kept himself to himself. He and Hugo bonded over that, and still did four years later. _

_So when the gossip about Andy spread to Gryffindor, Hugo wasn't as surprised as all the others. The only thing he was surprised was how little everyone seemed to care. No one treated Andy any differently to how they had before; as they got more comfortable there were even jokes about it; banter on the Quidditch pitch that Andy never took any offense to because he knew no one really meant anything by it. _

_Andy wasn't outcast, or avoided; he still partied like the rest of them and made joked with the girls as he always had._

_So Hugo figured he shouldn't treat him any differently either._

_Hugo had gotten quite bad OWL results (not as bad as Lily's, but bad), and when he told Andy about them he offered to tutor him in some of his classes. Hugo appreciated it, and said yes, because he'd vowed to improve his grades. _

_Andrew, Hugo swore, belonged in almost every house that Hogwarts had. He was beyond clever, and witty and jokey, friendly, and so brave for coming out. Maybe, Hugo thought, it was because he was the most friendly guy anyone knew that he was in Hufflepuff, even if Hugo did feel he was more of a Gryffindor than any of his dorm mates._

_Already close friends, it was easy to learn when Andrew taught him. They started meeting three times a week, but it felt so natural that this started to increase, until eventually Hugo saw Andy almost every spare minute he had. _

_He started to regard Andy as his best friend, above all the others, but things changed between them on the last day before Christmas. _

_Their revision session had, as always, descended into them chatting aimlessly about anything that crossed their mind. Somehow it turned to love, and Hugo found himself babbling about how he knew it existed, somehow. _

_Then Andy had tried to kiss him. _

_Hugo, confused and surprised, had jumped up from his seat and stormed to the other side of the Room of Requirement. _

"_What- What are you doing?" He'd demanded, looking for the door and contemplating running to it. _

"_I'm sorry." Andy stood up too, walking towards him but looking down. "I'm really sorry I just-"  
>"I'm not like you; I don't like guys!"<em>

_Andy flinched, but shook his head. "I know. I know you don't I just… I thought you liked me."_

_Unsure what to do, or how he felt, Hugo had left. _

_He stayed in his room all night and all morning, and then went home over Christmas. _

_Andrew seemed to accept he was being avoided; he didn't write or try and find him, he just left him alone. _

_And Hugo, alone, sat and tried to think and understand what was happening inside his own head and heart. _

_When they'd gone back to school, Hugo took the coward's way out and carried on trying to avoid his best friend. No one else really asked him why, although some of them would whisper and wonder. _

_Andy carried on letting himself be avoided; he never tried to speak to Hugo even if they were in the same room. He never looked up at him; Hugo knew that because he never seemed to look anywhere else. _

_He started to understand then, as winter melted. He hated that Andy would speak to others but not to him; he hated that he had lost the best part of his day and his best friend. He started to notice all the little things about the other boy; Andy's eyes were the most perfect brown he'd ever seen, and his blonde hair was just long enough to frame his face. Hugo started to find himself noticing where Andy's shirt clung to the muscles on his chest, but would then realise and want to run away from everything and everyone._

_Hugo's seventeenth birthday was in February, when hadn't spoken to Andy in almost three months. The boys in his dorm organised a huge party in the common room, that almost everyone in his year and the years above and below attended. _

_Including Andrew, who Hugo had spotted early on and walked over to. _

"_I'm sorry I'm here." Andy had muttered, not meeting his eyes. Hugo just felt sad that he still wasn't looked at, but loved that he'd heard the other's voice again. That was his last push; he felt he knew for certain now. _

"_I'm glad you're here." He'd replied, before putting his drink down on the table and his hands in his pockets. "You're my best friend and I've missed you."_

_Andrew had glanced up, their eyes meeting for a second, before turning towards the portrait hole and leaving. _

_Hugo had chased him outside, ignoring the calls after the birthday boy. _

"_Andy!" He'd yelled down the corridor, and Andrew had turned and looked up sadly. _

"_I can't do this. I'm sorry, okay; I've been trying not to make you feel awkward but you're not making it easy by telling me how much you've missed me and..." He shrugged. "I'm just sorry I ruined this. I know you're not gay and you don't feel this way about me-"_

_Hugo put his hands on the slightly smaller boy's shoulders. Andy looked as if he was scared of being shaken. _

"_Andy don't."_

"_Don't what?"  
>"Don't… Don't leave. Don't worry. Don't apologise-"<br>"No because I need to-"  
>"Andy, I missed you." Hugo said, as simply as he could. Andy just looked a little confused, and Hugo understood what girls complained about when they said boys could be clueless. "No, I really missed you. I guess that you were right, because I don't know how I feel about boys but I do know I like you. I actually feel more for you than I've ever felt for anyone before, and I know it's not fair to you but I just-"<br>Andy had stood up straight, and pressed his lips to Hugo's. _

_And it was the single best moment of Hugo's life so far. It was like everything came together; everything made sense. _

"_I really do like you." Hugo had said when both boys eventually pulled away from each other. They'd laughed, boyishly, before Andrew had just smiled. _

"_Come on birthday boy, back to your party."_

"_Are we- um-?"  
>"We can be a secret for as long as you want us to be."<em>

_And they'd walked back inside, and acted like nothing had ever happened; none of the last four months had happened. They acted like best friends again, but both knew that they may be more than that._

_It carried on like that for a while; confused, stolen kisses in the Room of Requirement or in the common rooms after dark. Then the kisses became less confused, more certain, and then they became more than kisses and became whispers of love in every available room, still hidden away._

_Then the summer came and left; Hugo stayed at Andy's for a week but Andy didn't come back over. Both of them understood what didn't need to be said; Hugo still wasn't ready for people to know about them. _

_Then Andy was named as head boy, and the two of them could spend all the time they wanted together in his dorms. _

_Until rumours started to spread quietly, and Hugo got more and more uncomfortable with eyes on him. _

_Everyone really did love Andy, and the head girl, Hannah Bennett, was no exception. And the two of them were clever and Hannah wasn't blind. When Andy had asked Hannah to pretend to date Hugo for a while, so the rumours would stop and they could all get on with their lives, she'd shrugged and said yes. _

_So Hugo pretended he had a girlfriend, and that it was her who he was spending every night curled up with. _

_Truth be told, he hated it, because when they were out of the dorms he had to put his arm around her or sometimes kiss her to stop people being suspicious. _

_Andy hated it too, and they would argue sometimes about whether the other was really worth all the hassle. _

_They stayed together, though; they couldn't be apart or they knew their hearts would break. _

_Hugo promised, way back at the beginning of the year, that when they finished school he would tell everyone the truth. _

_He didn't keep his promise, and Andy understood all too well and just smiled sadly when Hugo had confessed he couldn't do it. _

_Andy seemed to know that Hugo wasn't ashamed of him, he just didn't want all of the press attention and the family gossip; he wanted to be left alone._

_So they carried on dating secretly. They stayed in each other's apartments most nights; they were only around the corner from the other. They would have been blissfully happy, if it wasn't for the fact that they couldn't go outside. _

It had all come to a head this morning. Andy, tired of hiding and too tied up with secrets, had begged for Hugo to just take him to the wedding and tell everyone; he said it would be quick and easy and that he'd stay by his side and make sure no one hurt him.

Hugo had sighed and said he couldn't; he loved Andy but he just wasn't ready.

Andy said he'd never be ready, and stormed out with tears in his eyes.

Hugo Weasley couldn't lose Andrew Woodward. He felt it would be worse than even losing himself. He'd rather lose everything else in the world than him.

Lost in thoughts of just how much telling his sister was worth, he'd practically forgotten she was even there. Until he put her arms around his neck, and stayed there for a while.

"I'm not going to pretend that it's not a surprise, but I'm so proud of you."

He shook his head. "Proud of me? I'm a coward; it took me three years to tell one person, how long's it going to take to tell everyone else?"

She smirked, before removing her arms from around him and standing up. She held her hand out to him and pulled him up.

"I'd say about ten minutes."  
>"What?" He asked incredulously, as his sister smiled back at him annoyingly.<p>

As if on cue, taps on glasses could be heard from the hall, calls of "speech" echoing down the path.

"Come on, bro." She said, pulling on his arm. "Speech time."

He stood stock still and shook his head. "I can't."  
>"What's the worst that can happen?" She asked, and when he didn't answer she smiled. "Exactly."<p>

He still didn't speak, and so she quietened down and looked up at him.

"Hugo, no one's going to love you any less. In fact we may even love you more. We don't know you like we know each other, but we can now. The boys'll be shocked, sure, but they'll get over it."  
>"I'd just rather tell them one by one-"<br>"Do you think Andy'll wait for that?"

He hoped so, but was forced to shake his head sadly.

"Prove him wrong; be as brave as I know you can be. Come on, we're missing it." She announced, before grabbing his hand and yanking him back inside.

In the hall, everyone had sat down at the tables and were smiling up at the front where Fred was just finishing toasting to his new bride.

Then Fred sat down and James stood up, and before he even spoke everyone began to smile at each other knowingly. Hugo just stared at the speakers with fear, knowing what Rose planned on making him do.

While people laughed at James he looked around, at everyone who was smiling in his family's direction.

And as he did so, he realised that his fear began to dissolve. There was no one in the room to really be fearful of; there wasn't anyone whose judgement he was scared of.

Except his Dad. He couldn't help but be a little scared of his Dad. He felt like he was letting him down… If he didn't meet his father's eyes, though, he started to calm down. He started to think that maybe his sister's idea wasn't so bad after all, if he knew what he wanted to say…

Focusing on something else, he tuned into James' speech.

"So, when Fred and Anna's children one day ask me about their parent's getting together, I will happily tell them that it's pretty much all down to my magic!" People laughed, while Anna and Fred just sat and giggled with their hands linked. "But yes, all jokes aside, I am so proud of my best friends for making it through life together so far, and I have no doubt that they'll carry on forever. Ever since we were fifteen, they've inspired me to whole heartedly believe that love is out there for everyone and…" He looked up, and Hugo was momentarily confused by his smirk as he frowned at the paper before him. "I can't read my own writing. Louisa, what does that say?"

He crouched down next to Louisa, who looked confused as she took the piece of paper.

Then she covered her mouth with her hand, as James adjusted himself so he was on one knee.

"'Will you marry me?'" She read quietly, before James smiled.

"Why yes dear, I will." He responded. "If you'll marry me too?"

Louisa just cried and nodded, as the room broke out into applause.

"Hold on, this is my wedding!" Fred complained jokingly after a few moments or two.

James shrugged, before putting his hand on his heart. "Your wedding inspired mine."

Fred groaned. "Anyone else want to steal my spotlight?" He joked, and Hugo laughed weakly because he knew what Rose was going to do before she did it.

She charged forward, her wand pressed to her throat.

"Yes. My brother."  
>"Rose…" Hugo said quietly behind her.<p>

"Now or never. Tell them."

The entire room, Hugo swore, had fallen far more silent than it had been before. All eyes turned to him, and while Rose looked on supportively everyone else seemed to be assessing him and judging him.

"Tell us what?" James asked, one arm around Louisa as he looked up.

Hugo opened his mouth and closed it again, watching as everyone examined him.

"You can do it." Rose said quietly, and she reached out for his hand but he didn't take it.

He felt like he had to do this alone. If not for him, then for someone much more important than himself.

"I'm gay." He said simply, unsure where else to start.

He wasn't sure what he'd expected; maybe laughter as some thought he was joking, maybe shocked gasps, maybe his grandmother fainting in surprise… He didn't expect Louis to jump up and yell "I knew it! Jake owes me five galleons!"

"What?" Hugo asked dumbly, as his blonde cousin shrugged.

"Andy, right? I've known since my last day of school when I swore I walked in on you two and no one believed me-"  
>"Wait, your last day of school?" Dom asked. "That's almost three years ago."<br>"How long have you been-?"

"About three years." Hugo replied honestly. "My boyfriend's name's Andrew Woodward; he was head boy, and he's brilliant, and he'd love to meet you all. I've loved him for so long now that I don't know why he's still not a part of my life with you guys. I don't want to keep everyone I love apart, so I'm sorry I took so long to tell you I was just scared…" He glanced up from his feet, where Rose was nodding supportively. "I'll stop rambling now." He sighed. "And let you all get on with everything, sorry for interrupting your wedding Fred I just… Rose was right, it was kind of now or never."

His family were staring at him, their eyes a little wide and some mouth partially open. Probably because Hugo had just spoken for the longest he ever had without being interrupted when it wasn't about Quidditch. But, as if on cue, they all turned back to normal events as best they could when food was brought out a couple of moments later.

They ate, and people began to drift towards Hugo and ask him questions or say they were proud; it was nothing like Hugo had expected in terms of questions and awkwardness. But it was everything he'd expected in terms of relief. He'd never before felt so free and easy; it was easy to answer questions when there was nothing to cover up anymore.

The girls wanted the full story, and every time Hugo told it they would babbly about how adorable he was and how much they wanted to meet Andrew. The boys wanted less details, but told him that they didn't mind. Hugo assured them all, mainly Louis, that he was still the same guy; he wasn't about to be obsessed with shopping or checking guys out while they walked down the street. He just wanted to be treated the same, and they seemed to understand and accept this. His Aunts and Uncles said they were proud of how brave he was; they said that they admired his honesty and couldn't wait to meet Andy.

The person whose reaction Hugo was most afraid of, his father, just walked up and hugged his son before he even said anything else.

"I'm sorry, Dad." Hugo said, before Ron even had a chance to speak. He didn't know why he apologised, he just felt like he'd let his father down the most out of everyone.

"Sorry for what, son? I've never been more proud of you." He said simply, before shrugging. "Besides, we have enough girls in this family. It might be nice for you to bring another guy in for backup."

And then Hugo laughed, and everything was okay. Everything was perfect, actually, because he had no worries or fears he just felt free… He just wanted to leave and use his freedom to go home and-

"Do you want to go find Andy?" Rose asked many hours later, after the party had come and gone and darkness was falling outside. "I'm sure you can leave by now; everyone will understand."

Hugo had already jumped from his seat, and wrapped his arms around her.

"Thank you for everything today. I can't explain how much it meant to me, I just-"  
>"What are sisters for?" Rose shrugged. "Now go. He'll be waiting."<br>"What if he's not?"  
>"Then he's crazy."<p>

Hugo smiled, before grabbing his suit jacket and heading for the door, apparating away the second he was far enough away , to an address he knew backwards.

Only once he'd knocked on the door, and was waiting for it to open, did he realise how exhausted he was and how much he just wanted to curl up on the sofa with his boyfriend…

Andy answered, his eyes horribly puffy and dark, wearing one of Hugo's old jumpers.

The other boy sighed and shook his head, going to close the door again. "I don't want to see you-"

"I told them." Hugo replied, his relief finally manifesting itself as tears in his eyes.

After Andy blinked for a moment, he let the door open for Hugo to kind of fall onto him.

"You told them?" He asked quietly, his breath warm on Hugo's neck.

"I told them all. They all know. They can't wait to meet you and I-"  
>"I'm sorry. I'm sorry I made you do that-"<p>

Hugo leant back to see that Andy himself had tears in his eyes, and was biting his lip worriedly. It was the first time Hugo had ever seen regret in his eyes, and all he wanted to do was get rid of it again.

He moved forward, shutting the door behind them and shaking his head.  
>"I'm not. I don't regret it, and I don't know what I was so scared of. Especially when really all I want is…"<br>"Is?"  
>"It's you. Of course it is. I-"<p>

He was interrupted by Andy's lips against his own, and even though he could have been about to make one of the most profound speeches of his life he couldn't bring himself to care. Because he never wanted anything other than this for the rest of his life; talking wouldn't bring him anything more.

Andy leant back, once Hugo's hands had snaked around his hips comfortably. "Now people know about us, please don't leave here."

"I was planning on staying anyway-"  
>"No, I mean never. Never leave here; never leave me. Move in with me."<p>

And all Hugo could do was nod as his heart filled with love. Somehow, in a day, he'd managed to achieve so much and been rewarded equally.

Now he really just wanted to celebrate properly with his boyfriend.


	6. 12th July, 2029

**_Disclaimer: _**_Harry Potter isn't mine. These disclaimers are getting repetitive._

* * *

><p><em><strong>Nobody Said It Was Easy<br>**_**12****th**** July 2029**

Scorpius hated bars. He preferred to curl up in pubs with Rose, not stand alone at a dark bar, where everything was warm and he had no idea where he was or wasn't allowed to look without feeling awkward. The music was too loud and the atmosphere was too hurried; at the end of a hard day at work he swore everything was making his head hurt.

He was too used to this bar, though, to care. He was used to the way the neon sign blared down at him through the dark street of Diagon Alley, and he was used to feeling almost at home when he walked inside.

"Alright, Malfoy?" The blonde bartender asked when he spotted him. "The usual?" He asked, before walking towards the exit of the bar that stood in the centre of the room.

"Yeah, thanks Louis." Scorpius replied to his girlfriend's cousin, who motioned him towards him and they walked through the crowd.

Only Louis would manage to open the most popular wizarding bar in the middle of Diagon Alley. And only Louis would call it _Weasley's. _

Inspired by his trip around the world, when Louis had come home permanently he'd begged his father for money for "_an investment", _and months later opened the coolest bar Scorpius ever seen; and it seemed the rest of the country agreed.

With the name sparkling for miles, projecting into the sky, people came from far and wide to say they'd been. The building itself was nothing special; three floors high and Louis lived on the top floor. There were no stairs up to the second floor, only rope ladders and brooms, with ropes hanging from the ceiling to swing across. Private booths hid away in the corner, but most people stayed on the dance floor that changed colour every week. Louis publicised easily by making his family visit; he had some of them guest bartend, even Ron and Harry. People had queued for three days before opening night for that evening.

The family could say a lot of things about Louis, but there was no way they could say this bar was anything but a success; Louis knew how to party and he definitely put this knowledge to good use.

They arrived in the back room, a sign saying "_family members only"_ hanging on the door. Inside, sofas that fondly reminded Scorpius of the Gryffindor common room scattered around a small room, with tables of unfinished card or chess games next to them.

"Let me guess," Louis looked at his watch, looking very smart and business-like. "Lily's still interviewing them?"  
>"Well the match ended four hours ago, so I'd hope they're about done by now." Scorpius laughed, getting comfortable on one of the sofas.<p>

"Yeah, I'd give Al about ten minutes or so. Maybe I should tell the customers… Anyway, how did the game go? Ireland, wasn't it?"  
>"Yeah, it was really good. Anna scored five times then-"<br>"Win or lose? You've known me for almost twelve years; have I ever cared about Quidditch?"  
>"No. We won. Al caught the snitch about an hour in."<p>

"Surprise surprise!" Louis said sarcastically, before shrugging. "So, what can I get you?"  
>"What's the cocktail of the month again?"<p>

"Roxy." Louis replied. Every month since it opened, _Weasley's _had a different cocktail named after a family member, and they were famous for having magical properties that no one could explain. _Dominique _had made the drinker more attractive for a few hours; _Hugo_ had made anyone who drank tell the truth. _Molly II _was the drink of last June when Dom had her baby, and then _Gabrielle _was the drink of last November, named after Vic and Teddy's daughter. Both drinks were non-alcoholic, but seemed to have the same affect alcohol would have. Even Scorpius had a drink named after him for his birthday in March; _Malfoy _had been perfectly transparent, only glinting blue if you put it in certain lights, but tasted like whatever the drinker wanted it to. Scorpius had been really rather flattered.

"Oh yeah, I remember; it makes you clever for a few hours."

"Exactly. Although it's not really the Roxy we know right now; if it was then it would probably burn your insides."

Scorpius laughed weakly. "That's harsh."  
>"But true. God, I swear she's just more angry day by day."<p>

"She's busy; she works really hard."

Scorpius wasn't sure when he became so able to chat about the family as if they were his own; he wasn't sure when his opinion began to matter.

"So do I! So do you! We all do." Louis groaned. "The thing is, that we all love our jobs, but it's not all we have in our lives. Roxy has nothing but her job and yet she seems to hate it… It just doesn't make any sense."

Unsure what else to do, Scorpius nodded weakly.

"God, I need to stop hanging out with sentimental drunk people in the early hours of the morning. It makes me forget how to have normal conversations." Louis groaned. "Back to work." He said aloud, before turning to the door. "Beer, right?"  
>"Right." Scorpius replied.<p>

"I'll send Al through when he gets here-"  
>"I'm sure I'll hear him."<br>Laughing, Louis nodded as he left.

Scorpius watched as the door closed, then leant forward for the latest copy of the prophet that lay on a table nearby. He flicked through it, before settling on an article Lily had written about the declining standards of Hogwarts Quidditch. She'd researched it by staying at the school for the whole of April; truth be told Scorpius was a little jealous that she was able to go back there without it being Memorial Day.

Reading it, fascinated, Scorpius barely gave himself time to think about how glad he was that it was the weekend, or how much he was looking forward to seeing Rose again tonight. He was too busy reading; Lily's articles tended to have that effect on him.

He was knocked out of Lily's Quidditch-observing world when he heard cheers through the door to the bar; people chanted "Potter" loudly and Scorpius already knew what was coming.

His best friend came inside about ten minutes later, laughing loudly with Louis.

"Yeah, so make sure to buy those girls some drinks from me." Al told Louis as the blonde put Scorpius and Al's drinks on the nearest table.

"Will do, mate." Louis replied, before returning to the door. "You're bartending next week right?"  
>"Right." Al agreed, and Louis smiled before shutting the door behind them.<p>

Then Al turned to Scorpius and smiled. "I swear, he owes me fifty per cent of this place's takings."

"Probably." Scorpius laughed, as Al sat down next to him. "So, you're buying girls drinks?"

Al pulled a face, "Am I not allowed?"  
>"What about Jennifer?" Scorpius asked, sternly, more out of principle than actually caring about the girl. Jennifer was the first girl Al had dated for more than a month since school, but Scorpius couldn't quite explain why. To put it simply, she was beautiful but entirely insane; obsessed with hearing about his ex-girlfriends and monitoring his every move.<p>

Al shrugged. "I dumped her."

"Why?"  
>"Because, I started to miss her when she left. I started considering staying in the mornings; I made her breakfast! It was all getting too serious…" Scorpius groaned. "Besides, she was crazy."<br>"She was but… Al I thought you were actually getting somewhere!" He joked, serious in his mind. He thought of how different the two of them were; there as Al, dumping someone because he missed them, and there was Scorpius who missed his girlfriend after just a few days without her.

"We can't all stay with the same girl since Hogwarts," Al said indignantly. "Not that you would know if you talked to anyone in my family!"

Scorpius just laughed, unable to disagree.

Al sighed, crossing his arms. "I still can't believe Louisa and James are actually married. I wanted them to stay engaged forever because you could just tell he was going crazy… Who makes a 'no sex until we're married' pact? My brother's such a loser-"  
>"Your brother's a romantic."<br>"My brother nearly killed himself because he flew so high trying to calm down after just kissing!"  
>Scorpius just laughed, because that had been a really funny day. Especially when James had tried to explain to his Dad exactly why he'd spent so long on that broom, without actually having to say the reason out loud.<p>

"I so wish that had been in Prophet." Al laughed. "For all the stories Lily writes to humiliate me, I can't believe she didn't jump for joy at that one."  
>"I think she just likes to torture you, really. She's been better for the last couple of months though-"<br>"Yeah, because she's so grateful after the Luke drama."

Scorpius just shook his head, because looking back to that April he realised that it was the most dramatic the Weasleys and Potters had been for a while. Ironically, it was also one of the moments where Scorpius had felt like he seamlessly fit in with his family.

_It had started when Lily started dating a boy called Luke, who barely anyone in the family liked. Louis liked him least, because he used to see Luke out and fight for girls with him, so he didn't understand how he'd changed. But they put up with him, because he made Lily happy. Then she moved in with him, and he went to the wedding and the boys started to think that maybe he would be alright…_

_Until he was stupid enough to hit on a girl in the family's own bar. _

_Now, the boys wouldn't pretend that what they did next was sensible. It wasn't. Louis had apparated to each and everyone's house and rounded them up, stopping at Scorpius' and simply saying Lily was in trouble and they were rounding up the boys. Scorpius was too proud of being "one of the boys" to consider saying no. _

_Then they apparated back to behind the bar, all nine of them; Al, Louis, Alfie, Scorpius, Hugo, Andy, James, Fred, Teddy. They'd arrived to cheers, because the customers seemed to think they were there to celebrate. They weren't, their wands were out of their pockets faster than anyone could speak and aiming curses at poor Luke who looked a little defenceless. James and Fred laughed their way through it; they kept remembering old curses they used in Hogwarts and yelling them out. Scorpius was glad that none of them had ever been used on him._

_The bar seemed to be on their side, and Scorpius and Hugo quickly realised that they should stop the attack before everyone joined in and the curses stopped being quite so harmless. So they yelled loudly, and the madness stopped instantly. _

_Fred and James had looked at each other knowingly, before climbing over the bar (carefully, thanks to Louis' warning to keep things clean) to Luke, who was covering his crotch with his hands and looking very pained. _

"_Where's my sister?" James had demanded, and Luke had answered that she was at their house. So James had grabbed his arm and apparated away, and the other boys had instinctively done the same. _

_They'd forced Luke to tell Lily the truth, which turned out to be far more than just hitting on someone in a bar. Lily had got angry, and James had been excited to teach her some of the curses he hadn't had a chance to perform…_

_Out of luck, and instinct, they'd managed to help Lily escape a guy who turned out to be all kinds of wrong for her. And she was really grateful for that._

Since then, the articles about Al hadn't been quite so embarrassing for him.

"Anyway," Al said, drinking a little before leaning back again. "How's Rose?"

"She's good, I get to see her again tonight after the week without her so-"  
>"Why, where's she been?"<p>

Then Scorpius had to blink, because he realised what he'd just done. He wanted to kick himself; why didn't he think before he spoke?

"Er, up in Leeds. With Maddie."  
>Scorpius couldn't miss the smile that crept onto Al's face, and that just made him feel worse. So he decided to speak, before Al had a chance to voice any of the questions that Scorpius could tell he was thinking of. "She needed help organising her wedding."<p>

Al just leant back, obviously trying to look casual but really just looking uncomfortable. "She's getting married?" He asked, quietly.

"Yes." Scorpius replied, looking at the floor guiltily.

"To who?"  
>He sighed. "His name's Daniel. Daniel Parker. He's really nice, actually, he's a muggle so he gets a bit freaked out when we do magic but-"<br>"Wait, you've met him?"  
>Scorpius nodded simply, unsure of how else to respond. "He's been over a couple of times; when we went to Scotland with Maddie he was there-"<br>"How long have they been engaged for?"  
>"A year last February."<br>He didn't seem angry. He raised his eyebrows a little but he didn't seem surprised.

"When's the wedding?"

"The first Sunday in August."

He nodded, "Why didn't you tell me?"  
>"We just weren't sure you'd want to know."<p>

"I didn't." Al laughed a little bitterly. "But I'm happy for her."

Scorpius opened his mouth, about to speak again, before the door opened and Louis skipped inside.

"It's buzzing tonight; everyone's celebrating your Quidditch win!" He said cheerily, and Al looked like he was trying to smile in reply but just grimaced. "Anyway, those girls want to see you when you're done in here-"

"Tell them I'm not going." Al replied simply.

"What?"  
>"Just… Not tonight." He shrugged, before standing up. "Actually, I think I'm going to go home. Scorpius, do you mind, mate?"<br>"No, it fine. I have somewhere else to be anyway." Scorpius replied.

"Al, mate, are you okay?"  
>"I'm fine." Al lied, shortly. "Just tired after today."<p>

"Why what's happene-?"  
>"The Quidditch match. Quidditch is pretty tiring, in case you haven't realised."<p>

Louis turned, raising his eyebrows at Scorpius. Scorpius pulled a face back and hoped Louis understood.

"Alright. Well, I'll see you tomorrow or something." Louis eventually said, closing the door but glancing at Scorpius one last time before he left.

Then Al said his goodbyes too, and Scorpius soon found he was just as alone as he had been less than half an hour ago.

So he walked to the fireplace in the corner, grabbed a handful of floo powder, and jumped into the green flames.

He didn't particularly think of the place he was going to, almost just jumped in and let the fire take him wherever he wanted.

He always hated arriving by floo, because he always hated arriving without warning.

His hands started to shake the second he recognised the fireplace; because he took it as some kind of sign that he'd arrived there, of all places.

He'd been meaning to drop by here for a while now, and now he was there he realised what his subconscious must have intended him to do.

He considered not stepping out of the fireplace, but couldn't because the woman on the sofa had noticed him.

"Hi, Scorpius, we weren't expecting you!" Hermione said, barely reacting when he arrived, just placing her paper down on the table. "Is everything okay? Can I get you any tea or anything?"  
>Scorpius couldn't help but smile, even after all these years; he still appreciated that they made him feel at home here.<p>

So he decided to go through with it; he decided he didn't really need to be scared.

"I can't stay long, thanks Hermione. Rose should be home soon."  
>"Okay." She smiled kindly, before frowning slightly. "Why are you here then?"<br>He laughed awkwardly. "I need to talk to you and Ron, if you're not too busy."

It was at this moment, that Ron stuck his head around the door from the hall. "I heard voi- Oh, hi Scorpius, are you alright?"

"I'm fine thank you, Sir."  
>Hermione laughed. "Oh, if <em>Sir<em>'s back then it must be serious." She joked, before gesturing to the sofa opposite her for Scorpius to sit down on. Ron sat on the arm rest of Hermione's seat, and Scorpius found himself blinking up at them in silence before thinking that maybe he should speak…

"I- Um… You know that I've loved Rose for years, almost since the moment I first saw her on the train platform. Sometimes I can't believe I'm lucky enough to have her in my life, and I really really love her. I guess I just need you to know that before-"  
>"If you're here to tell me she's pregnant or you're breaking up with her then you can tell me you love her all you like, but I'll still hate you-"<p>

"No, it's neither of those things." Scorpius sighed, having lost track of what he was saying before. "I… Sir- I mean, Ron- do you remember when I first met you and I said Rose would be in my future for as long as she wanted to be? Well, I hope she still wants to be there, I and I still want her here. Forever."

He sighed again, thinking about how when he'd asked this question in his head he did it so much more clearly; he didn't dither quite as much as he was doing in reality… He cursed his mind for letting him arrive here without planning properly and sighed. Then he decided to just say it.

"Ron, Hermione… I want to ask your daughter to marry me. She won't- she won't be a Malfoy. I'd rather that our children were Weasleys-"  
>"You've said that before."<p>

"I have?" Scorpius blinked.

"Yeah, after I tried to scare you off that first night, Rose teased you and I heard you say you wanted your children to be Weasleys… I was listening. I could tell you meant it then and I can tell you mean it now."  
>"You love our daughter and that's all we ever wanted for her." Hermione interrupted, and Scorpius looked closely to see that she had tears in her eyes. Then realised he had too, as the enormity of what was happening to him hit him.<br>"Of course you can marry her. Or ask her, at least, I'm not guaranteeing she'll say yes-"

"Ronald, of course she will!" Hermione hit her husband lightly, before returning to beaming at Scorpius, who couldn't quite contain his smile.

"Thank you, sir- I mean Ron. And Hermione." He laughed weakly. "I'm making a mess of this."

"If you're like this when you ask us, what are you going to be like with her, eh?" Ron laughed, and Scorpius shrugged.

Because he'd already planned that bit.

He'd had it planned since he was sixteen. Maybe even fourteen.

Because he knew everything about Rose, and he knew where she felt most comfortable and he knew where she was happiest. He knew where meant something to her, and he knew where to go that meant something to them.

He'd already spoken to Professor McGonagall, and she agreed that they could go back whenever they needed. He was going to propose in the common room. Or, at least, the Room of Requirement. That way it could be perfect.

"I'm using my grandmother's ring." He said, thinking out loud. "I hope that's okay with you. I mean, I'm not proud of most things my family have done but-"  
>"Narcissa's ring?" Hermione asked, and for a moment Scorpius worried that she'd get upset or say he couldn't do it. So Scorpius interrupted and tried to explain.<p>

"I'm not ashamed of them, even though sometimes I think I should be. I mean, I'm ashamed of them as people, but I'm not ashamed of my surname. It actually makes me proud, because I think I'm so much more than people expected of me. And I don't want to try and get rid of every trace of them I have; they're still my family and I'm grateful of every opportunity they've given me. If my Mum and Dad hadn't brought me up the right way, I could have just been another Malfoy… Instead, I get to be a Malfoy who's good enough for a Weasley."

"I'm sure it would mean a lot to Rose, to have something from your family."

Scorpius just nodded appreciatively, unsure what else to say. Not only did he feel like he'd said everything he wanted to say in that moment, he felt like he'd said everything he'd ever wanted to say to Rose's parents; he'd always wanted to justify himself.

He smiled to himself contently, before quietly sighing. "You'll never know how much your acceptance means to me."  
>"You'll never know how easy it was." Ron shrugged. "You and my daughter were meant to be. It doesn't matter who you are on your own; you're perfect together."<p>

"Thank you."

Hermione smiled, before glancing up as the old grandfather clock creaked. "What time's Rose home?"  
>He looked up, as the clock changed to eight thirty. "Any minute now. Do you mind if I-?"<br>"Go." Hermione rose from her seat and smiled kindly. Ron joined her, as Scorpius got up and headed to the fireplace. "It was wonderful to talk to you, Scorpius."

"You too, Mr and Mrs Weasley. I swear, I'll make your daughter happy."  
>"You already have."<br>They hugged lightly, before Scorpius threw floo powder into the fire, and stepped inside.

He barely gave himself a chance to think before he was home. And the second he stepped out into his living room, Rose's arms wrapped around him.

"Scorp! God, I've missed you; where have you been? Have you had a good week-?"  
>"I've missed you." He replied into her hair, that familiar scent overflowing him until he could barely speak anymore.<p>

"Well I'm back with you. And I'm not going anywhere else for a while."

That was all he really needed to hear. It was all he ever needed; her, in his arms. It was all he had needed since he was sixteen, and was all he'd need for the rest of his life.


	7. 15th February, 2030

**_Disclaimer: _**_I definitely, definitely, definitely do not own Harry Potter. That's all._

* * *

><p><em><strong>Nobody Said It Was Easy<br>**_**15****th**** February 2030**

Roxy had woken up in stranger's bed often enough to know what to do when she woke up at 6 in the morning.

Not that she had had many one-night-stands before, but she knew how they worked. She knew that she was meant to sneak out of bed, grab her clothes off the floor and get out as quickly as she could; maybe leave her details if she felt like it…

It was different this time, though.

It was different because she wasn't in a stranger's bed. She didn't have to turn around to know exactly what the guy with his arms wrapped around her looked like. She knew almost every inch of him off by heart, or she used to at least.

His breath sent shivers down her neck, he was so close, so she tried not to move too much as she opened her eyes and glanced down.

Their legs were tangled together; his scar along his thigh still hadn't faded even after all these years. She saw that her hands were clasped around his and the second she saw this she relaxed her fingers and sighed.

Then she shuffled forward a little, and his arms fell from around her so she could escape.

She put her feet on the rug and sighed, before turning and checking that Jamie was still sleeping.

He was older, now. She laughed at her own thoughts, because it was so obvious that he would have grown in the years since she last saw him. She had. He was different now; his hair was shorter and his eyes looked a little more worried. He'd been different with her last night as well; a big part of her hated that he'd learnt new things, and wondered where he'd learnt them from… She hated how much had changed but longed to know how much had stayed the same.

She sighed, before picking up the clothes that were laying by the bed and pacing through the dark room to the door.

Then she started to realise that she'd known exactly where the door was. She knew her exact way around this apartment, in fact, because she'd lived here. She just didn't know he still did.

It hadn't changed much in five years. The living room was still decorated with plush blue sofas and the bookshelf still towered in the corner. Except her books weren't there anymore.

The photo frames didn't have pictures of her family in anymore; she couldn't help but walk to the fireplace and see who was smiling through the glass these days. It was Jamie's family and friends mostly, but some of those that had once had the Weasleys in now just lay bare.

One photo frame was still cracked. The picture she was used to wasn't there anymore, instead there was a certificate that said he'd qualified as a healer… She kind of understood why he'd put it there.

She remembered when it broke. She'd dropped it on the floor when she was cleaning and the glass had cracked down the middle between her and Jamie's smiling faces.

_She cried. She didn't know why, because it was just a photo frame and it was just a picture but… She didn't believe in signs. She'd already made her decision and she hated it, but she felt like she'd just had proof that it was really happening._

_She must have been there for an hour or so, because when Jamie came home he apologised for being late, scurried into the kitchen and made tea, came back and sat on the sofa before he noticed her. _

"_Are you- Are you okay?" He asked, hurrying to her and kneeling down. "God, how did this happen? Are you alright, did you get cut by the glass or-?"  
>"I'm fine." She replied quietly, sniffing. <em>

"_Okay. Alright, well I'll just repair this-"_

"_Don't." She shook her head, and ran her finger along the cracked glass sadly. "It's too late to fix it."_

"_Of course it isn't-"_

_Then she looked up in his eyes and he seemed to understand. And it broke her heart into a thousand pieces when he bit his lip and nodded a little._

"_Are you sure we can't fix it?"  
>Tears hit her eyes again too eagerly, as if they'd been waiting. His hand almost flew to her cheeks to wipe them away and she shook her head. <em>

"_I can't do this anymore. We're over. I-I never see you. I never see anyone, I'm too busy working… I never see you or my family and with Dom gone I… I have to give up on you before I give up on them. I'm sorry I just have to-"  
>"I know." He nodded, his fingers twisting into her hair lightly. "I know."<em>

"_I love you." She sighed. "I really do."_

"_I know that too."_

_She'd packed up not too long after that, and he had (being the perfect guy he was) helped her all he could. It had been all too easy for her to leave, and her family had taken the news far too well; it made her feel like she'd done the right thing at the time. _

Looking back, she'd done the entirely wrong thing.

And there was nothing she could do about it anymore, because even though she had slept with him last night there was no reason for her to assume it meant anything.

Because last night they hadn't talked about anything; they'd barely caught up or even spoke… they'd just looked at each other and the rest had been a little inevitable.

Really, though, when she thought about it she did wonder why he'd been there. Why had he still been in _Weasley's_ so late, on the night that had been advertised as Roxy's bartending night for so long? While all the rest of her family had gone on dates for Valentine's day, she'd agree to cover the bar for Louis… It had been planned for a while. So why had Jamie still been there?

She wished she could actually ask these questions. Or she wished she'd asked them last night, before she'd ended up here. Because maybe if she'd acted like a grown up and chatted with him, and maybe agreed to meet up later, there might have actually been some potential for the two of them. Any chance there was for them had been wrecked now; they'd both proved to the other just how much they'd changed in the way they'd acted last night. Roxy doubted that they could talk their way out of that.

She decided to leave without a note, because she didn't feel like it would make any difference. She would never be able to write everything down that she felt Jamie might need to know; less than that, she would never be able to write everything down that the Jamie she had known would want to know.

The front door was locked, and she remembered that there were enchantments so she couldn't apparate out; she and Jamie had wanted to be traditional and always leave by the door even by a metre or so. So she turned back to the fireplace, and searched for the floo powder.

It was while she was searching that she heard a door shut, and she turned to find Jamie halted in the doorway, halfway through buttoning his shirt.

They stared at each other for a few seconds, frozen, before he spoke.

"I, er, thought you'd gone."  
>She shook her head, and shuffled a little. She felt fourteen again.<p>

"No, sorry, I was just looking for the floo powder-"  
>"I didn't mean I want you to leave." He said quickly, before glancing down and continuing to button his shirt. "I just… Tea?"<p>

Roxy considered saying no, but couldn't. So she nodded, "If you're sure."  
>"Of course I'm sure." He smiled, before going into the kitchen. "Feel free to sit down." He shouted through, and Roxy nodded to herself before sitting on the sofas, awkwardly trying to get more comfortable.<p>

A few minutes later he came in with two mugs, and put them on the coffee table in front of her before sitting on the other sofa. "Not too much milk, not too much sugar."  
>"You remember." She smiled, and he pulled a face.<p>

"Of course I remember."

She reached out and took the mug, sipping on it before smiling at him gratefully. "Thank you."

He shrugged, before sighing. He looked uncomfortable on the sofa too, and he was in his own house.

Why he'd asked her to stay, she didn't know. It wasn't like they were really having any kind of conversation. He just kept looking at her, opening his mouth as if about to speak, then shaking his head to himself.

She decided to try and get him to talk, mainly because she thought she might implode from the awkwardness of the whole thing. "So, it's been a while…"

"Yeah, five years is a long time."

She nodded, agreeing, but he didn't say anything else so she tried again. "You're done with training then ? Finally a healer." She pointed to the fireplace, and he glanced up to the photo frame and smiled a little sadly.

"Yeah, finally. It took me long enough."

"I don't understand."

"Have you seen the dates? I only finished last year-"  
>"You were meant to finish three years ago." She told him, before realising that maybe she'd shown she knew too much about him after all this time.<p>

"Yeah, I dropped out." She couldn't quite contain her surprise, and gasped. He just looked up at her, and she couldn't tear her eyes from him as he carried on. "After you left I was miserable, and I blamed my job for everything, and quit. I spent two years doing nothing; basically doing everything I thought I should have been doing just after I finished at Hogwarts. Wasting time, hating that you weren't with me… When I realised what a mess I'd made it was almost too late, but luckily it was just in time to join training a couple of years behind. I graduated with Jake Thomas, ironically, but at least I managed it eventually. I'm working in St Mungo's now, so everything's worked out okay."

"I'm sorry." She said simply, unsure of what else to say. She felt like it was all her fault, somehow.

He shook his head. "You left; you didn't make me quit school. It's fine, I was just acting like a kid."

She shrugged. "I'm still sorry. If it makes you feel better, I quit too."  
>"What?"<br>"I quit. I hated working at the ministry; I never got anywhere I wanted to go because I didn't want to go anywhere. So I quit. Only last Summer, though, it took me longer than you to realise I was unhappy."  
>"I… What do you do now?"<p>

"I teach." She replied. "Little kids, before they go to Hogwarts. The Ministry of Education tells the Ministry of Magic about anyone that seems different, so I try and help the families get used to the idea that they might have a magical child. It's all about trying to make it so they're not out of their depth at Hogwarts… It's great."  
>"It sounds it. Not the quitting your job part but… I'm glad you've found something that makes you happy."<p>

"Yeah, me too." And she nodded and tried to smile as if she was happy, but couldn't. Because she wasn't happy; the only thing that had ever made her truly happy was sat in front of her. "You know, it's funny; I chose my job over you, and didn't even keep it. It just shows what a mistake I made."

"You think you made a mistake?"

She nodded, before breaking his gaze and reaching out for her tea. She sipped it for a while, unable to look up at him. She knew that he was still looking at her, though.

She just didn't know what she was supposed to say now, or what he wanted to hear. She didn't want to be the only one to bear her soul and not know anything back… She couldn't handle getting hurt again.

"You know, I still talk to Fred." Jamie said eventually.  
>"Oh, right."<br>"Yeah, he keeps me up to date with how you're doing. Not you, I mean, the Weasleys and Potters... I mean, he told me about Rose and Scorpius getting engaged and Dom having a baby... He invited me to his wedding."

"Why didn't you go?"

Roxy wasn't sure if he heard her, because he carried on regardless. "He tries not to talk about you, which is stupid because you're his sister. He tells me about everyone else but gets quiet when you come up. I used to hope it was maybe because you weren't doing anything at all, but that was just me being hopeful. I didn't want you to be with anyone else or moving on… So I guess he's just never told me." She was the one looking at him this time, while he looked down at the ground. "I didn't go to the wedding in case you were there, and you brought some guy-"  
>"I was there on my own."<p>

"Oh."

He twisted his fingers between themselves, looking straight at the ground, before grabbing his empty mug and jumping up. He picked hers up, still not looking her in the eye, before leaving into the kitchen.

She stared at the fireplace numbly, before jumping up as well and following him, unable to not say the words that were flooding her brain.

"Why would it matter anyway?" She asked, walking into the kitchen to find Jamie leaning over the sink and breathing deeply.

He looked up at her and sighed.  
>"Look, I-I don't know what I'm doing." He rushed, "I don't know what I'm saying, I just know what I'm trying to say, and I'm scared-"<br>"Just say it."  
>"Last night meant a lot to me. I know it didn't mean much to you because you were about to leave this morning but it meant something to me and I'm just trying to explain…"<p>

She couldn't help but feel bad for him, because he was so panicked, and walked up to him and put her hand in his to try and calm him down.

"I was on my own at the wedding, Jamie. I'm always on my own."  
>"So no one? Since-"<br>"Not since you. No one that meant anything."

He turned to look at her, less panicked now. It seemed like he was calmed by how close she was to him. "Me neither. I… You'll always mean everything to me. Always. I've hated myself almost every day since I let you go. I know we've probably waited too long but I just… I heard it was your night to bartend last night and I just felt like I had to go. And the more I watched you the more I realised how real you are, and how you aren't just a memory… I meant to talk to you but when I finally had you alone I just wanted you too much to handle and I'm sorry-"

She couldn't resist putting her finger to his lips, shushing him. "It meant a lot to me too. _You _mean a lot to me. You hate yourself for letting me go but I hate that I left… Do you really think it's too late?"  
>"I convinced myself it was too late the day after you were gone; I was going to come and find you but thought I'd left it too long. It's been five years, Roxy, we're not the same people-"<p>

"You make me feel the same way."

And then it was the same inevitability. The same as it had been back in seventh year, when they'd just looked at each other and known. And Roxy just tried to resist the tears in her eyes, and tried to make everything feel a little more normal and not get too caught up in how she felt…

"Can we- can we go out to dinner sometime or-?"  
>"No." Jamie shook his head, his hands sliding around her waist without any hesitancy. "No, we're not wasting any more time. We're not- I love you."<p>

She blinked. "I love you too."

"Then stay here. Just-just stay here with me, promise me you'll never leave me-"

She cut him off by kissing him swiftly, life feeling complete almost instantly. "Don't ever let me leave."

"So you'll do it? You'll stay?"

"I love you." She laughed a little at his wide smile. "And I'm not leaving-"

"Is this real?" He asked, laughing himself. "Am I dreaming?"  
>"I can pinch you, if you'd like."<br>"I'd rather kiss you."

So he did. And Roxy thought back to twenty four hours ago, when she'd woken up and sat on her own with her cat and generally been miserable and alone… Now she was here. She wondered if she actually was dreaming, but then reality caught up with her.

Everyone else seemed to be getting their happily-ever-afters. Surely, it was her turn now?


	8. 26th December, 2031

**_Disclaimer: _**_Still. Not. Mine._

* * *

><p><em><strong>Nobody Said It Was Easy<br>**_**26****th**** December 2031**

Al woke up and sighed wearily. Sleeping on sofas hadn't been comfortable before, but nowadays it sent twinges down his neck that bitterly reminded him of events six months ago.

He turned over and tried to balance himself to get off the sofa, still finding it hard even now when only one of his arms could really move properly.

He would feel sorry for himself every morning when he woke up, because every morning he would wake up and hate reality. He would wish he could go back to sleep, where his dreams were the life he used to have. That, or they were nightmares where he would remember.

Not that he could remember much. He remembered seeing a flash of gold, and nose diving confidently… Then he remembered nothing but pain.

_The next thing he knew for sure, was when he woke up. _

_And everything hurt. _

_Not just his leg, not just his neck, not just his back… Everything. It had felt like his heart, almost his very soul, was hurting too; it was like it had already known what he lost._

_And it stayed that way for days. He would just lie there, in pain that almost stopped him from thinking he was still alive… No one spoke to him, barely, just his family that visited and attempted to make him feel better when they couldn't, really. He would drift in and out of life, vaguely recognising faces or eyes or voices, but not clearly… _

_Apparently, it was a couple of weeks later that they'd finally decided it was time to tell him what was going on. Because even though he wasn't awake much, he still had a terrified part of his brain that begged for more information, that would sometimes whisper in some of his conscious moments._

_They sent Jamie to speak to him. Or Dr Wrenshaw as he was supposed to be called. _

_Lily stood next to him and held his hand, while their parents stood by his head, Ginny softly stroking his hairline like she always used to do when he was little. James sat by the window, watching helplessly. _

_After a little while, and a few words that Al couldn't handle hearing anymore ("paralysis", "immobility", "rehabilitation"…) he shook his head. _

"_Can you please just stop talking?" He asked quietly, looking straight ahead wearily. He, unlike the rest of them, wasn't crying. _

"_Al, I've nearly finished there's just a couple more things-"_

"_James, hold my hand." Al commanded, and his brother looked up and nodded. He walked to the other side of the bed, and Al shook his head. "My other hand."_

_The Potters glanced at each other cautiously, and Harry spoke up sadly. "Al… You won't feel it."_

"_I know!" He snapped. "You think I don't know that? How stupid do you think I am-?"  
>"Alright, alright, shhh..." James said, hurrying to the other side of the bed and wrapping his hand around the one that lay on the bed without any attention. <em>

_Al couldn't feel a thing. _

"_Is this forever?" He asked quietly, looking up at Jamie who had watched the whole thing quietly. _

_The man nodded, looking down and playing with the ring on his left hand weakly. "Al, I'm so sorry-"  
>"What am I meant to do now?" He asked, "My life is over."<em>

"_No." Ginny replied hurriedly. Lily squeezed his hand tighter while James let go of the useless side of him. "No, it's not over-"  
>"I have nothing but Quidditch! Do you expect me to carry on catching snitches with one hand? Jamie, how long's it going to be before I'm walking around again?"<br>"Months." Jamie sighed._

"_Exactly. It's over."_

_His family shook their heads, while Lily cried and rested her head on the bed. James ran his hand through her hair, and Al just sat and looked, wanting nothing more than to comfort her too, somehow. _

_His sympathy left as quickly as it came though, because a minute later, he just wanted them all out. He wanted them to stop crying and pretending to understand and..._

"_Can you all just go?"_

"_Al-"  
>"Just leave me here. Jamie, you can stay and tell me the rest but I don't want you guys to hear. Leave."<br>Lily sniffed, standing up. "Al…"  
>"No. I don't want to hear it. I just want to be on my own."<em>

_They did as he asked, to give all credit to them. They did leave him alone and they never tried to pretend everything hadn't changed again. _

_And for a while, Al was miserable. Worse than miserable; he was angry. He was angry at himself for letting himself fall from however many miles high… He was angry at his family and friends for still being able to move properly when they didn't really need it… He was angry that there was no magic that could fix it anymore…_

_The day he stopped being angry, a month or so later, was a very weird day. _

_Because none other than Madeline Fletcher walked into his hospital room, and Al found himself staring at her ring finger without any kind of shame. She laughed weakly. _

"_Yeah, I'm married."_

"_Damn." He replied, his voice cheeky and a smirk playing on his face; it had been a while since he'd been that way. _

_She laughed, walking forward and sitting on the side of his bed. He was a little alarmed by how close she was to him, but it was okay because she was on the side where he couldn't feel much anyway; he had no feeling down his shoulder or arm and never would, but the rest of him was steadily coming back as the days went past. _

"_So, how are you doing?"  
>"Hating life. You?"<br>Maddie smiled sadly. "I'm okay. I'm sorry I'm here I just heard what happened and kind of had to see you-"  
>"It's alright. I'm glad to see you." And he was. He wasn't angry now she was here, and he wasn't sad… He just felt peaceful. <em>

_Maddie was more beautiful than he remembered her. Not that he didn't remember her to be beautiful, but she'd aged exactly as he'd always thought she would; her hair was longer and seemed to glow while her eyes sparkled. _

"_So, what are you going to do now you can't play Quidditch?" She asked, tapping his arm playfully. Somehow, for the first time, Al wasn't surprised when he didn't feel a thing. _

"_What?" He asked her. _

"_What?"  
>"Sorry, people aren't usually so blunt with me. People are more careful about talking with me about the future these days."<br>"Well then I'll ask to save them the job. What are going to do?"  
>"What can I do?" He asked, confusedly, trying not to appreciate her being there. He wanted to be annoyed that she was there, getting involved, but he couldn't somehow. <em>

"_Well, you can't just live off what you've made and feel sorry for yourself forever."_

_Al glared a little. "How did you know that was my plan?" He laughed._

"_I know you." She shrugged. "So, what do you want to do? You could… Write-"  
>"No, can't. Only got one arm, it's not my writing hand."<br>"Oh." She bit her lip. "Coach?"_

"_I doubt the England team would have me coaching them with only one arm. Besides, I don't know if I can fly-"  
>"I'm sure you could fly. You could learn again. You will learn again; you're not you if you can't fly." <em>

_Al nodded sadly. "Well, I couldn't coach anyway."  
>"Maybe not professionally… But you could coach at Hogwarts."<br>"What?"  
>Maddie smiled widely. "Yes! It's perfect. They idolise you there, and Lily wrote that article a couple of years ago about how rubbish Quidditch was there these days. I'm sure they'd jump at the chance to hire you and you'd love it!"<em>

_Al shook his head. "I don't know…"_

"_You'd love it." She repeated, and her hand wrapped around his. He just watched, and sighed before she visibly weakened her grip on his hand and looked down. "Sorry, you can't feel that can you?"  
>"No. But I wish I could." She didn't reply, just thread her fingers between his. <em>

_Neither of them spoke for a long while. Al just watched how serene Maddie looked, and found himself much calmer as the minutes passed. _

"_You know, I don't know what I am without Quidditch. I don't know what I'm meant to be; before it was all about getting girls and catching snitches and now I can't really do either of those things… God, I can't believe I'm such a loser that my life has no purpose past a game-"  
>"Your life has purpose-"<br>"No, it doesn't. It doesn't."  
>"Your family-"<br>"Have their own lives." Al sighed before propping himself up on his good arm and trying to sit up. He shuffled himself so he was leaning on the pillows, then leant back resignedly because all of it was taking too much effort and he just felt stupid. "And I've got mine. And you're right, I should do something with it."_

"_Like teach?"  
>"Like teach."<em>

_She smiled widely at him, and he smiled back._

_Then she looked down at her watch and sighed. "Anyway, I have to get back to the husband-"_

_Al couldn't resist groaning. "You know, I hate that you're married. And I would only admit that to you. You're the only person I ever imagined myself growing old with, and now you're married. You're gone."_

_She just smiled. "It means a lot that I'm the only the person you imagined yourself with. But you'll find someone else; you can give up on me. It's not going to be as hard as you think."_

_And then she was gone as quickly as she'd arrived. She kissed his hand as she said goodbye, on the side he couldn't feel anything, and walked out of the room speedily. _

_Al whispered goodbye before sinking back down into the bed. _

_Then Scorpius and Rose came inside, smiling widely as they always did when they were with each other. _

"_Hey!" He greeted them, and they both looked at him in surprise. _

"_You're better today." Rose smiled, practically skipping over and sitting by him. _

"_Yeah, what's changed your tune?"  
>Al shrugged. "I know what I'm going to do now, I think. Or, I have an idea at least."<br>"What?"  
>"Teach. I'm going to teach Quidditch." Al said, saying it making him feel a little more excited. "When I'm back on my feet I guess."<em>

"_That's great!" Scorpius smiled. "That's a great idea."  
>"Yeah, what made you think of that?"<br>"Maddie." Al replied. "She was here, you just missed her…"_

_His voice trailed away when he saw the look between his two best friends. _

"_What?"_

"_Maddie?" Scorpius asked, easing himself into the chair as Rose shook her head. _

"_Yeah. Why?"  
>"W-what potions have they given you?"<br>"Today I had some different one for the pain, why? What's going on?"  
>"Maddie can't have been here. She lives in America now, she moved a few months ago. Boston, I think…"<em>

Even to this day, Al was adamant that Maddie had been there. Rose could screw all of her evidence and facts, Al knew what he saw. Maybe he hadn't felt anything, and she'd acted a little weird, but she must have been in a rush to get back home…

She'd saved him.

She gave him a direction, and a goal, that he followed through.

It wasn't easy, of course, and he hated having to give up his posh apartment on the top floor of the best flats in London to move to some house in Godric's Hollow. And he really hated learning to fly again without using any arms so he could still throw balls. And god, he hated going back to Hogwarts for an interview with the headmistress and explaining why he would be good for the job…

But he loved being in the air again. And he loved hanging out with his family more, now he had the time.

He loved his job more than anything. Well, probably not more than the feeling of catching the snitch in the final of the Quidditch world cup, but he loved it all the same. He'd only worked there for one term and he knew his job backwards.

They adored him there, especially the higher years who idolized him for more than just his surname. He'd never seen anything funnier than watching the first years learning how to fly for the first time. He got the title of head of Gryffindor on his first year through luck, and he loved that as well. He loved glaring at Slytherins, but he swore to everyone that he was fair enough to referee all the matches… He'd proved it when Gryffindor had lost to the boys in green last month. The match was rubbish, admittedly, in fact Quidditch in general was appalling… But he planned on improving that in no time.

So even though his life was almost entirely unrecognisable from last year, and he would still give almost anything to go back to having feeling down his right arm for just one day, he was still okay with everything that had happened. He still accepted that maybe it had to happen, for him to be as happy as he was sometimes.

And that was what motivated him to turn over and climb off the sofa, pull on some jeans and a t shirt, walk into the kitchen and wave at those that were awake. Which was, of course, everyone but the Weasleys; Scorpius was drinking tea while Anna and Louisa were talking about an article in the paper. Jamie and Alfie were playing with Gabrielle, who was the most adorable three year old Al had ever seen even while she was struggling to stop herself levitating.

"Morning all." Al announced, before heading towards the coffee machine. Without a word, Scorpius reached over and opened the cupboard so Al wouldn't have to struggle, and Al smiled at him gratefully before pulling his wand out of his back pocket. "Did everyone get home safe last night?"

They'd all spent Christmas together yesterday; just his generation, not their parents or grandparents. Teddy and Vic hadn't been around either because they'd gone on holiday, so it had almost been exactly like it always used to be in Al's school days. Except with Dom's husband and daughter, Jamie there under the title of "Roxy's husband" and Scorpius married to Rose, Louisa wearing a wedding ring and Anna very, very pregnant. Last night Lily, Hugo (and Andrew) and Louis had all headed home because Anna and Fred's house wasn't big enough for all of them, but the rest of them had stayed. Hence why Al was on the couch; the families and couples seemed to get bed priority even over the invalid.

"Yeah, as far as I know." Scorpius nodded, before the two of them both grabbed the mugs of tea and sat down at the kitchen table.

They all settled down, chatting about Christmas and New Years and their plans. Then everyone asked Al about his job and he lost himself talking about it. He thought he might be boring the rest of them, but somehow didn't care. He carried on babbling until even Fred and Rose were awake, downstairs and listening to every word he said.

"I'm really glad you're happy." Rose said eventually, and Al just smiled to himself and nodded. "Yeah, I really am."

Boxing day had never included any special traditions for the Weasleys. When they were younger they used to play Quidditch, then they used to curl up and spend the day gossiping or sleeping. Now they were older, they were barely any different; when the opportunity was available the boys hopped on their brooms and the girls curled up in Anna and Fred's living room and chatted their lives away.

Al loved that, even with only one arm, he could still beat all the rest of them at Quidditch with ridiculous ease. Admittedly, Anna couldn't play because she was too pregnant, and she would beat Al without a problem, but the rest of them were rubbish after so many years of sitting behind a desk.

The morning passed like that; Al beating his cousins at the game, only going inside to warm up when the cold got too much. The girls would stay by the fire and play with Gabrielle, and talk about their plans for the year. The girls didn't know, but the boys would talk about their plans too. Or more importantly, worry about the girls' plans. James planned to have a child by the end of the year, but worried that Louisa would carry on working for as long as she physically could. Scorpius didn't know when he was having children; Al still couldn't quite get his mind around the idea of his best friend and cousin procreating even if they had been together for eight years now and he'd been best man at their wedding. Alfie, Fred and Jamie were all in the same positions; their plans for the year were dictated by what the girls' said. They didn't seem to mind all that much.

When the afternoon began to truly set in, Al's neck and back ached so they all agreed to call it a day and stop playing. Roxy made hot chocolate, and all of them sat around downstairs in the living room and talk turned more towards the past than the future.

Talking about everything Al used to be still made him a little uncomfortable, but he didn't like to admit it. Even talking about last year, even hearing the jokes about last Christmas… It was still a little too raw to him but after everything they'd done he couldn't let them feel bad.

"I'm going to go and get all my stuff together to go home tonight." Al said, thinking of the easiest way to escape without being obvious. None of them seemed to mind, but Fred leant forward to give him a hand putting his mug down and getting off the sofa at the same time, which Al appreciated.

Getting up the stairs wasn't hard, it just took longer because he still couldn't quite balance himself. It was a lot easier when Anna chased after him up the stairs and offered to help. At least then, if he fell backwards he would have a cushion… Of Anna and her unborn child. Yeah, this didn't make it any better.

When he finally got to the top of the stairs, he headed into the guest room Rose and Scorpius were in, because he'd dumped all his clothes in there with them.

Anna offered to collect them up, and mostly Al was too lazy to turn her down. So he sat down on the bed (forcing himself not to think about what could have happened in it the night before) and sighed.

He was about to speak before Anna beat him to it.

"So, how are you?"

"Surely, I should be asking you that. In fact, I think I should be doing things and you should be the one sitting down; you're the pregnant one."

"We'll just both sit." Anna shrugged, before dumping his clothes in a pile and sitting on the floor opposite him.

Al just smiled down at her. She looked so different now that her normally skinny frame was interrupted by her huge stomach.

He and Anna were close, after so many years of being in the Quidditch team together. She would always be the first person he would go to about his conquests, while he would always be the first to translate some of his family's bizarre behaviour for her. They were both equally competitive, equally able to drive each other when they needed to… He had no need for her any more, though; he didn't need her pre-match pep-talks now, any more than she needed his tactical ideas.

"How are you?"  
>Al just smiled. "I'm fine. Thanks for having me, by the way-"<br>"Not a problem."  
>"How are you?"<br>"I'm good." She nodded, and Al watched as she looked down at the floor before looking up again.

Al really did know her well; he knew there was something on her mind.

"What's up?"  
>"Nothing."<p>

"Really?"  
>"No." She sighed, before bending her legs as if trying to get more comfortable. "I just… I know how important Quidditch was to you, Al, and I'm sorry you had to give it up."<br>He couldn't help but glance down sadly. "It's okay. Things happen."  
>"Yeah, but, to you-"<br>"It's really crap, I'll admit. I've got to make the best of it, though." He smiled weakly. "Besides, we've still got you representing our family now you're a Weasley! When are you going back?"  
>She shook her head. "I-I'm not, Al."<p>

"What?"  
>"I-I don't want you to think I'm ungrateful, because I'm giving up something that you'd probably kill for, but… I grew up without ever seeing my Dad because he was always playing and God I just hated my Mum, and I want my kids to have a happy family. Not the family I had. It's not fair-"<br>"So you're quitting?"  
>"I'm staying at home with my baby-"<br>"Couldn't Fred?"  
>"He's got the shop. And that means everything to him. Running the shop but actually seeing his kids all the time, having a functional family with functional parents; we want the same thing."<p>

Al nodded, and couldn't help but be jealous that Anna even had the option to quit.

"I'm so sorry Al. I really don't want to let you down-"  
>"You're not. Come on, if there's one thing I learnt through falling the sky it was that there are more important things than Quidditch."<p>

Anna just smiled, before standing up awkwardly and heading towards him.

He stood up too, and she reached her arms out and around him before he knew what was happening. That was one of the things he hated; he couldn't hug people properly anymore. He'd taken to nuzzling his head towards someone's collar to show affection. Anna didn't seem to mind.

"I haven't said it yet, properly and I just- I'm just so sorry that this happened to you." She said quietly into his ear, and Al could feel her tears in his hairline.

"Make your kid a Quidditch star for me, okay?"  
>"Be Godfather and help me?"<p>

He couldn't breathe, and leant back to look into her eyes and check she was serious.

"Please?"  
>"Absolutely." He replied, before wrapping his moving arm around her again.<p>

They stayed there for a while; Al was trying not to cry and just appreciate the moment. He wasn't sure what Anna was doing.

When they eventually relaxed, they smiled at each other, before something in Anna's face changed.

And next thing Al knew she was sat on the floor again.

"Are you-?"  
>"FRED!" She yelled, and Al backed off from her out of fear he'd done something wrong.<p>

"Anna-?"  
>"FRED!" She shouted again, and when Al realised he couldn't hear thundering up the stairs he left and raced down. It wasn't easy with only one side to balance on.<p>

"Fred, I- Something's wrong with Anna."

"What?"

And then they heard screams, and before Al knew what was going on he was stuck in the stampede of his family going up the stairs. James paused halfway up the stairs and helped him up, but the two of them were still the last into the, now very crowded, spare room.

Jamie was bent down at one side of Anna, while Fred had her other hand. She was leaning against the wall and shaking her head, while Jamie was asking her questions and twisting his wand against her wrist or neck and stomach.

"Is she okay?" Fred asked, and Jamie continued in healer-mode without replying.

"I'm fine, calm down." Anna instructed, before her eyes went wide and her face screwed up in pain again. Al noticed her knuckles turned white against Fred's hand.

"Jamie!" Roxy demanded, as she and Louisa stood and watched in the corner. Rose and Scorpius were stood by the window, while James and Al were now sat on the bed. Dominique had stayed downstairs with Gabrielle, but Alfie sat next to them and frowned.

"I- er… Anna you're having a baby. Now."  
>"WHAT?" Fred yelled. "He can't; he-"<br>"She-!"  
>"He's not due for… What?"<br>"Three weeks."  
>"Exactly!"<br>Jamie shrugged. "Apparently he, or she, isn't going to be on time; they are your child after all."  
>Anna and Fred looked at each other in shock, everyone else staring silently.<p>

"Okay, so we'll get to St Mungos-"  
>"Anna, you can't apparate or use Floo powder. I don't think there's time-"<br>"I'm not having my baby in here-!"  
>"I'm not watching!" James exclaimed, covering his eyes. Al couldn't help but have to stop himself laughing, but agree quietly. Everyone looked around uncomfortably, none more than Fred whose eyes were wide.<p>

"Oh my god" Anna exclaimed suddenly, before she turned and leant her head on Fred's shoulder and winced. "This hurts!"

"Jamie, do something!" Roxy yelled, and everyone turned to the poor man who bit his lip and looked confused.

"I don't do births; I only did them in training and I can't remember-"  
>"In case you haven't noticed we don't have any other healers on hand. I don't care if you didn't pass the exam with flying colours, just do something because this-" He lifted up his hand to show where Anna was gripping him, "really hurts!"<p>

All the girls' eyes just narrowed in his direction.

"Really Fred? You're in pain?" Louisa said sarcastically, while Roxy just reached forward and smacked the back of her brother's head.

"Right, okay, there are some spells that can lessen the pain that are pretty routine, but we can't get rid of it entirely or we won't have any kind of warning for when Anna needs to.. well-"  
>"Push." Rose concluded, and all the boys groaned and winced in reaction.<p>

"Oh for Christ's sake, it's nature and it's beautiful." Louisa said in an annoyed tone. "Now, you all you boys except Jamie and Fred need to get out of here, and Rose, you need to run downstairs and get- what, hot water and towels? Alfie, if you look after Gabby I guess we can have Dom up here for moral support-"  
>"Alright, Head Girl, we'll follow your orders." James laughed, standing up. Al followed, and minutes later everyone seemed to have done exactly as Louisa said; Anna was upstairs with her best friends, Jamie and Fred, whilst everyone else stayed downstairs.<p>

Scorpius made tea, because he didn't know what else to do. Gabby was the only one making noise, humming a Christmas song to herself whilst everyone watched her.

They tried not to wince at some of the noises they could hear, but Al couldn't help it sometimes. So he distracted himself by watching how everyone reacted; the way James looked a little wistful, obviously thinking he might be next and Alfie just smiled down at Gabrielle gratefully. Rose and Scorpius had twisted their fingers together the way they used to in school, and Al was tempted to ask all the questions running through his head but chose not to.

They could have been there for hours, Al realised, but without anyone saying a thing and just the same repetitive noises from upstairs no one had any idea how long it took.

There was one completely ear-piercing scream, sometime later, and everyone just knew that it was over. They all stood up, or at least those who could easily get up did, as if they were trying to look busy, and even little Gabby turned and looked up at the stairs with wide eyes.

Fred came thundering down the stairs, his forehead damp and eyes full of tears.

He kind of threw himself at James, smiling widely over his shoulder, and then suddenly James was crying too.

"I've got a son, guys." Fred cried into his best friend's shoulder, as James smacked his back in a stupid manly way that didn't at all match their girly tears.  
>"Can we see him?" Rose asked, still holding Scorpius' hand tightly.<p>

"Oh, yeah, of course." He finally let go of James, to look at the rest of them. He opened his mouth as if about to speak again, but then they heard another scream from upstairs and a look of horror crossed his face.

"Fred!" Dom was looking down at them from the top of the stairs, shock in her eyes. "Er, you might want to get back up here."  
>"Why?" Fred demanded as he ran up towards her.<p>

"There's kind of another one on the way."  
>"WHAT?" James shouted from downstairs, and Al couldn't resist but laugh at his brother. Rose just flopped back on the sofa.<p>

"Twins do run in our family." She shrugged, "We can't be that surprised."

There wasn't that long to wait this time. Al didn't really like to think about the biology behind it but it didn't seem like hours this time until Roxy was the one to come downstairs.

"Guys, would you like to come and meet the twins? Fred would come down but, he's kind of got his hands full…" She wiped tears away and smiled widely, before everyone almost ran up the stairs.

It was a bit scary, the sight that met Al. Because he'd never felt that old before, and thought he had years ahead of him. But he hadn't. The two tiny little babies in Anna and Fred's arms; they had years ahead of them. Al didn't have that much time at all.

"They're so beautiful," James said quietly, walking to Louisa and wrapping his arms around her without taking his eyes off the children.

"Do you know their names?" Rose whispered, leaning her head on Scorpius' chest.

"Um…" Anna said quietly, "No, not really-"  
>"Angelina and Oliver." Fred said simply. "I've known what our children are called since I was eighteen. The next one's called Katie."<br>Anna just nodded tiredly. "Oh, okay."

"Thinking ahead, are you?" Scorpius asked jokingly.

"Please, you told my Dad we were having kids when we were 17." Rose replied, and her husband just shook his head with an embarrassed look on his face.

And Al looked as his best friend, blinked, and then just had to sit down. Because suddenly his head was overflowing, and everything hurt almost like it had when he was in hospital...

_He was fifteen, and the common room was as busy as it always was. But he and his family were there, in the corner, with miles of space around them on their sofas. Scorpius sat next to him with his book on his knee, while Rose was on the floor writing hurriedly; the two of them were racing on their essays as always. Fred was sat with his arm around Anna, complaining about how annoying the first years were, while James tried to copy Roxy's work over her shoulder while she sat with Craig. Dom curled up on her chair looking sleepy, and Louis was sat on the arm rest telling Jake about some girl. Lily was working quietly in the corner, with Hugo asking her questions every few minutes. _

"_I swear, I hate children and I'm never having them-"  
>"Watch out, Fred, don't go planning your life away." James commented, "You might regret saying that in a few years."<br>"So what, you want children?"  
>"Of course. One day." James looked off into the distance, and Fred laughed. <em>

"_Stop thinking about Louisa bloody Hall she's not interested."  
>Dom nodded, "She really isn't." She agreed, and James just shook his head.<em>

"_Nope, you're wrong. I will marry her and you'll regret saying that when you don't get to be at the wedding."  
>"Eugh, I'm not even getting married." Fred complained. "What's the point in swearing your life to one person?"<br>"Really, Fred? Your girlfriend's sat right there."  
>"Well I'm his girlfriend right now…" Anna joked, and they laughed a little. <em>

"_So wait, you're really never getting married?" Roxy asked. "I am."  
>"Me too." Craig continued. <em>

"_Ha, never." Dom laughed, and her brother agreed. _

"_You just don't understand romance, do you?" James grumbled, and Al shook his head. _

"_Oh and you do?" He asked his brother. _

"_Shut up Severus." James glared, and Al was about to reply when suddenly Scorpius jumped up. _

"_Finished!" He shouted, and Rose turned, looked up, wrote one more word and scowled. _

"_I've finished now." She complained, and Scorpius sat back down and laughed._

_Al turned to his friend and raised his eyebrows. "You're a loser. Both of you are."  
>"Love you too, Al." Rose shrugged, before standing up and squashing onto the sofa between the two of them. <em>

"_What about you, Rose, ever want to get married?" _

_Rose's smile seemed to vanish for a moment, and her eyes glanced in Al and Scorpius' direction before she looked back at Roxy. "Yeah, one day. Maybe."  
>"What about you, Scorpius?" Al asked, nudging his friend. <em>

"_Yeah, I think so."_

"_Because we really need more Malfoys." James joked, and everyone laughed. Or, at least, Al thought everyone laughed, but there wasn't that many smiles from the two people next to him. _

"_It's weird, isn't it, to think we'll one day be old enough to get married and have kids and-"  
>"Eugh, it's a horrid thought. I don't want to talk about that-"<br>"Yeah, let's talk about something better. Quidditch; Al, do you reckon you'll ever drop the snitch…?"_

"Al? Al!"  
>"Oi, Severus, what are you thinking of?"<p>

Al glanced up. He had tears in his eyes and he didn't know why, just knew that to his family it looked like he'd just collapsed.

"Just… Just feeling old." Al replied. "And my shoulder's really hurting. Congratulations though, guys, I'm really happy for you."

"Thanks Al." Fred replied, not pushing on the subject and instead turning back down to look at his son.

They seemed to get that he felt old. That he spent a lot of his time wishing he could turn back the clock to so many different times in his life because there was so much he wanted to change…

They seemed to understand, but they didn't feel it themselves. Al hated that.


	9. 31st December, 2032

**_Disclaimer: _**_Even though I'm dying under a pile of revision, I still love Harry Potter. I also still don't own it._

* * *

><p><em><strong>Nobody Said It Was Easy<br>**_**31****st**** December 2032**

"I swear to god, it isn't hard, all you do is flick your wand and say the right bloody thing!" Louis said frustratedly, as he turned around and gave one customer his shots then asked the girl next to him what she wanted.

"It's not that easy, these cocktails are weird!"

"There you are, miss." Louis gave the girl her drink before turning to Lily. "They're not weird at all! Look, what do they want?"  
>"Er, three Roxys and a Malfoy I think. Or was it two Roxys, a Rose and a Malfoy? Wait a second." She moved away from the bar, leaning to the side where a man was watching her impatiently. "Sorry sir, what did you order?"<br>"I swear, if you weren't a Potter I would have left by now." The man replied, and Louis groaned and nudged Lily out of the way.

"I'm so sorry, sir, what would you like to order? I'll give it to you on the house. Or, at least, Lily will pay."

"Two Roxys, two Malfoys and an Al please."

"Coming right up, sir." Louis replied, before making drinks quickly and presenting them to the man. "Happy new year, sir."

"Thanks."

Louis turned to Lily, who had been leaning against the bottles and watching him all the while.

"You owe me two galleons."

"How? We work for you-"  
>"And you get free drinks all year around whenever you want them. Seriously, don't start, you've been more useless than helpful tonight."<p>

Lily looked down, pulling a face and mumbling. "I'm sorry, I'm just… I'm nervous."  
>"Why?"<p>

"Excuse me." Someone called from behind him.

"One sec, Lils." Louis said, before turning to the customer at the bar. "What can I get you?"  
>"What are Potter shots?" She asked, and Louis reeled off the differences between Weasley, Potter and Malfoy shots before she ordered one of each and left again.<p>

"So Lily, why so nervous?"  
>Lily had full on sat down now, on the chair Louis had put out for Al when he was helping out. She wasn't even pretending to help now, and Louis would mind if he didn't have other staff taking care of the punters.<p>

"My boyfriend's coming tonight."

"Wait, your- your boyfriend? You have a boyfriend? Who is he?"  
>"You'll meet him tonight." Lily replied, shaking her head, "And I'm dreading it, and so's he-"<br>"Well yeah, we're a pretty scary lot."  
>"Exactly. I just don't want you all to scare him off."<br>"Wow, I feel like we're in Hogwarts again. You do realise that James, Fred, Al and I have grown up enough to recognise that you make your own choices? You can date whoever you like. Unless it's that Luke guy again, please don't say it's him, I'll kill him-"  
>"It's not Luke. I'm not stupid."<p>

"I know." He reached out, and put his arms around her weakly. She just kind of laughed into his chest before a girl cleared her throat from the bar.

"Yes?"  
>"Sorry to interrupt the family moment, but you do realise that it's half ten?"<p>

"So?" Louis asked dumbly, but smiling enough not to be rude.

"So, I'm done. And it's Hugo and Andy's turn!" Lily said the last part loudly, and a few of the girls near the bar squealed and crowded further forward.

"Yeah. You're right. I'll come with you to get them. Sam, you can watch the bar for five minutes can't you?" He asked his deputy manager, who nodded before replying.

"I can watch them but no one wants to be served by me!"

Louis laughed, before he and Lily struggled to push through the crowd towards the family room.  
>"I don't even get why there are so many girls; do they not get it? They're gay! Their tops can be as low as they like but Andy and Hugo will never look twice."<br>"No, but you will won't you?" Lily remarked, as she pushed the door open. "So the low tops aren't wasted at all."  
>"Low tops are never wasted." Al joined in the end of the conversation, and Louis couldn't help but laugh.<p>

"Hugo, Andy, the girls are screaming; it's your shift." Lily sighed, collapsing onto the sofa next to Roxy.

"Eugh, my god, what are they going to be like when we start working?" Fred asked James, who rolled his eyes.

"A lot less impressed, probably." Anna replied, and Fred pulled a face at her as the girls laughed.

Hugo and Andy stood up and headed towards him, laughing about something or other.  
>"Ready boys?"<br>"For loads of girls to scream over me? Yeah, mate, gagging for it." Hugo replied sarcastically.

"Are you all okay in here?" Louis asked. "Any more drinks for anyone?"

"Nah, we're okay thanks mate." Alfie replied, smiling.

"And how're Rose and Scorpius handling the kids, Anna?"

Anna pulled a face, turning and looking up at Louis. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Come on, you must have used that fireplace by now. It is mayhem over there? I mean, there are two of them, Rose is pregnant, and they've got four kids to keep an eye on. I bet Scorpius is going crazy."  
>"He did look a little hassled when I checked-"<br>"Ha, got you! I knew you wouldn't be able to resist." Louis smirked, and Anna folded her arms. "They'll be fine, just have fun tonight." As he said this, Fred and James laughed loudly at some joke one of them had made. "Like your husband is, apparently. I need you guys out and about soon, anyway; got to keep people buying drinks."

"You must make so much money off of us." Teddy pointed out. "Why don't we get paid for this service?"  
>Louis rolled his eyes. "How many times do I have to tell you all; you get free drinks all bloody year! It's one night; one hour shift on the bar and mingling around midnight; I'm not asking you to donate your wands or cut off your hair." Louis didn't tell them, but at that moment he had an idea of expanding the basement into a kind of WeasleyPotter museum… He mentally wrote that on his to do list.

"Sorry to interrupt, but Louis it's getting pretty mad out there." Sam poked his head around the door, and the sound of screams and music and laughter kind of whooshed into Louis' head.  
>"Full capacity yet?"<br>"Yep, as of about ten minutes ago."  
>"Perfect. Come on boys."<br>"Wait," Roxy said, jumping up. "If you're full then-"  
>"Don't worry, I'll make sure Jamie and his healer friends get in. How many are there?"<br>"About ten."  
>"No problem, Rox."<p>

He made for the door again, before Fred yelled his name.

"Who's sold the most cocktails so far?"

"Er, probably Rose? I've sold quite a few Dominiques as well though."

Fred scowled, looking down at the cocktail in his hand and sipping it as Dom cheered. "I'm going to get out there and make people drink Freds soon."  
>"Good plan." Louis replied, nodding. "Maybe drink some water first though?"<p>

By now, Louis could handle all different levels of drunk; happy, tipsy, drunk, absolutely hammered, smashed, paralytic… Water was always his first suggestion. And he needed Fred to at least be able to walk around when his shift came about.

"Right, boys follow me." Louis finally opened the door to the bar again, and was met by screaming. He pulled his wand out and pressed it to his throat. "Ladies and gentlemen, may I present to you for one hour, and one hour only; Andy Woodward and Hugo Weasley!"

The screams were really too loud now, and Louis groaned before walking towards the bar and getting the boys to follow him.

"Bloody hell." Hugo complained loudly. "It wasn't this bad last year."  
>"Last year, people didn't queue for six days. Only four."<p>

The boys laughed. "I can't even think with this noise though." Andy groaned, putting his hand to his head.

"It's fine." Louis shrugged, before waving his wand. Instantly, the noise died down; only a couple of voices from those leaning on the bar could be heard.

"Wha-How?"

"Just a charm I made up this summer; it's kind of like _muffilato_ but you can hear them if they touch the bar."  
>Hugo just shook his head. "Mate, you are too clever to work here."<br>"No, it's because I'm clever that this place works."

He always liked when people admired him; he was more proud of this place, the place he'd built from the ground up and made into everything he'd ever wanted, than anything else. And he loved whenever anyone else appreciated it.

"Right get on with working, you know the drill don't you?"  
>"Yep."<p>

"Get on with it then!"

And so the three of them went back to work, serving screaming girls who would tell Hugo and Andy how much they wished they weren't gay. Hugo and Andy, being the amazing wingmen they were, would always point out that Louis was very much not gay; Louis really liked having these boys with him. They started selling less cocktails, but more shots and champagne; everyone began to prepare for the new year ahead by boosting their alcohol levels. And Louis' till levels.

When it got to about quarter past eleven, the boys finally got a break.

"Oh my god, I'm exhausted." Andy whined, sitting on the chair and whining. Almost instantly, Hugo stood behind him and began massaging his shoulders. "How do you do this every night? Just… how?"  
>"I love it." Louis shrugged. "Don't you kind of get a thrill from trying to test just how fast you can make drinks? And don't you think people are really funny when they try to make conversation with you as if they know you?"<br>Both boys shook their heads. "Nope, I just want to go to bed." Hugo whined, leaning forward on his boyfriend and sighing.

"Please stop being so adorable. Please. It almost makes me wish I wasn't single."  
>Both boys gasped in mock horror.<p>

"Almost!" Louis repeated. "Not really."

"Hey, Louis?" Sam leaned on the bar from the other side, and Louis looked up and smiled. "Apparently there's a group of people upstairs who say they should be let in? It looks like Wrenshaw's one of them?"  
>"Oh, right, yeah, I'll sort it." Louis headed out of the bar, before turning to Hugo.<p>

"You two okay on your own for a couple of minutes?"  
>"No!" Hugo whined again, and Louis just laughed before pushing through the crowd again towards the door.<p>

Outside it was cold, and loud, and Louis thought for a minute that he was an absolute genius for putting a window through the wall and having another bar serving the queue. "Wow, the party's buzzing out here." He smiled, and looked down the queue to see they were still lined up around the corner, but there was a kind of street-party feel to the whole thing.

One of the bouncers, Jeff, laughed, "It's madness. I reckon you've made about 600 galleons just in this street."

"Sounds good." Louis smiled, shaking Jeff's hand as he did so. "Anything I can you guys?"  
>"You can send your cousins up with hot chocolate again?" Leo replied, and the other bouncers agreed.<p>

"Please stop perving over my damn cousins."  
>"Why? That's why everyone else is here! Lily please!"<p>

Louis just shook his head. "Anyway, where's Jamie?"

"Here." A voice said from behind him, and he turned to see a group of intelligent-looking people behind the barrier on the other side of the door.

"Hey, Jamie. How many of there are you?"  
>"Nine? There were meant to be twelve but a few had to stay on shift for longer."<br>"Oh that's a shame. Well, give Jeff here their names and when they get here they can go straight down. And you guys can feel free; Roxy's in the back, Jamie."  
>"Thanks mate, you're the best."<br>"Don't say that he'll get an even bigger ego!" Jeff complained.

"Ha ha, very funny. Who pays your wages again?" Louis teased, before turning back to the door. "I'll see you all in there."  
>He walked back inside, to see Hugo and Andy looking rushed off their feet.<p>

Louis walked into the bar area, and Hugo ran up to him.  
>"Why is everyone suddenly getting drinks? Is there a drought? What's going on?"<br>Louis shrugged. "It's nearly half past, so everyone's stocking up before midnight. Because then they have to go half an hour without anything but champagne."  
>"Right, okay."<p>

Hugo turned around again, and Louis stood and watched just how good the two boys were at the bar, before thinking that maybe he should help them too.

"If you see any of Jamie's friends, give them a drink on the house okay?"

"How will we know who they are?"  
>"They're healers; they'll be knackered." Andy told Hugo, who pulled a face back at his boyfriend before turning back to another customer.<p>

Louis served another few people, before he saw Hugo serving someone he recognised out of the corner of his eye.

Hugo was putting the guy's drink together when Louis swooped in.

"That'll be seven sickles please." He told Jake, while Hugo looked at him confusedly.

"Wait, I though you said-?" Hugo began.  
>"Seven sickles." Louis repeated, and Jake nodded and pulled his wallet out.<p>

"Are you alright, mate?" Jake asked Hugo quietly over Louis shoulder while Louis counted the money.

"Yeah, I'm fine thanks, how are you?"  
>"Can't complain." Jake shrugged. "How's business, Louis?"<br>"Much better with these seven sickles, thanks." Louis replied shortly, before turning to the till and putting the money away.

He vaguely heard Hugo apologising, before he turned and was faced with the ginger man.

"What's your problem?" Hugo asked, and Louis shrugged.  
>"I don't like that guy."<br>"Don't like… Louis he was your best friend for six years!"  
>"Yeah, but you know what? He was crap at it." Louis replied, and Hugo sighed before sitting down.<p>

"Hello, we're dying here!" Andy yelled over his shoulder.

"Yeah, one sec." Hugo replied, catching Louis' arm after he'd turned to go and help. "Louis…"  
>"I've got a busy bar to look after, Hugh-"<br>"Yeah, and I have a cousin to look after. What happened?"  
>Louis shook his head, and debated whether to say anything. Because he didn't want to whine; he didn't want to show how insecure he was when it came to Jake Thomas. But he also wanted Hugo to leave him alone before the whole bar descended into chaos.<p>

"Look, the guy just let me down one too many times. For as long as I've known him he always chose girls over guys; he wasn't ever there if I really needed him and it's just… I know it was a long time ago but I warned him about Lily and did he listen? No. He completely ditched me for the sake of looking after her; you were there, he told us we were the worst cousins ever and that we didn't care, and it turned out that we were right all along. And you know what? Lily apologised for all the crap she put us through but Jake never did."  
>"I get it." Hugo nodded. "I do. But-"<br>"Besides, who needs best friends when I have family like you?"

"Stop, you'll make me blush!" Hugo joked, and Louis was pleased that he seemed to be dropping the discussion.

"Okay, really adorable family moment over; I'm dying!" Andy yelled, and the two boys laughed and went back to work.

Louis hated that he was a little distracted now; he glanced over to Jake and his friends one too many times and spilt a drink for the first time since he'd opened the bar. He started to wonder why Jake was even here when the two guys hadn't got along since Hogwarts. A horrible, pointlessly hopeful part of him started to think that maybe he was there because he wanted to apologise; wanted things to be okay again. Louis hated not getting on with people, especially people who had once meant a lot to him.

"Right, last orders guys, then let's bring in 2033 with a bang!" Louis announced, and while it meant that there was a final rush for drinks, at half eleven he stopped serving and finally caught a break. He turned around to see Andy and Hugo sat on the floor, looking exhausted.

"Thanks guys. You can come work for me any time you like."

"Thanks? I think." Hugo pulled a face, and pulled himself and Andrew up.

"Right, can you go everyone out of the back room and I'll set up for later."  
>"They're going to be hammered by now." Hugo groaned, heading to the door.<p>

Louis just laughed, heading towards a platform he'd set up in the corner. Minutes later his family joined him, those who had been in the room for the last hour having drunk considerably more now.

"Right, where's this boyfriend, Lils?" James announced loudly, and even though there was a little bit of a crowd gathering around them it was clear they didn't care; it felt like the Gryffindor common room all over again.

"Er, he's somewhere in here. He arrived with Jamie."  
>"Did he?" Jamie asked, and Lily nodded.<br>"Wait, so he's a healer? Great, just what we needed; someone else who's smarter than me in this family." Al complained.

"Well, I must say I don't think much of his on-time… ness." Fred announced, before downing the drink in his hand.

"I don't think you've ever grown up." Roxy told him sarcastically.

"Of course I have, I'm a Dad now. That means I have to be grown up all the time and it's boring!" Anna's eyes narrowed, and Fred quickly backtracked. "Not that I don't love my children deeply and adore the family I have… I love being a Dad. Yeah, I love the nappies and bottles and never sleeping-"  
>"Yeah, okay Fred, you're off the hook."<br>"Yay!" He cheered, and Louis just raised his eyebrows before James spoke again.

"No, seriously Lily where is this guy? He's not very punctual-"  
>"That's the word I was looking for!" Fred laughed.<p>

"Right, just give me a second." Lily asked, before walking away from them and into the crowd.

"You know what? I reckon we already know this guy." Dom said, and they nodded in agreement.

"Well I definitely do. Apparently I work with him." Jamie laughed. "Who knew?"  
>"Who do you reckon it is?"<p>

"I don't know; five of them are girls. And I've met two of their girlfriends so that just leaves-"  
>Hugo coughed loudly and dramatically, distracting Jamie so that they never heard who it was.<br>"Wait a second, you know who it is don't you?" Andy asked his boyfriend. "Come on, I can tell when you're lying."  
>"Who is it, Hugo?"<br>"And how do you know before we do?" Al asked.

Hugo just looked down at his feet. "Look, you're all going to find out in like two minutes-"  
>"So you may aswell tell us." Fred pointed out.<p>

"I, er…" Then Louis was confused, because Hugo turned to him apologetically. "She's really happy, you know-"  
>"Oh my GO-!"<br>"We really should have seen this coming!"  
>"Is that meant to surprise me?" Al demanded, and Louis finally turned around to see Lily walking towards him holding hands with-<p>

"Louis she's really happy." Hugo repeated, and Louis just shook his head.

"Yeah, I'm sure she is. He'd do anything for her, wouldn't he?" He replied. "Anyway, if you'll excuse me I have a bar to run." He told his family, before turning and pushing past Jake and Lily to get back through the crowd.

"Louis!" Lily called after him, and he forced himself to ignore it because he was just so irrationally angry that he didn't trust himself not to cause a scene.

"Right." Louis walked towards Sam, who was chatting with some of the other bar staff. "We need to get our act together, guys. You all know the drill; until then keep collecting glasses, guys, make sure everything's clean... What time is it?"  
>"Are you alright?" Sam asked.<p>

Louis ignored him, and carried on. "If people ask to order drinks, they can't until half twelve. Try and remind them that Fred, James, Roxy and Dom are serving so they'll hang around."

"We can take care of it if you want to be with your family?" Sam suggested, and even though Louis knew he was trying to be nice he shook his head.

"I'd rather not." He replied, following Sam's eyeline to where his family had sat down now and were chatting and laughing; Jake was hanging out with them like he'd never been away. "I'd rather just make sure I make as much money as I can tonight, then go home."

He spent the next quarter of an hour getting ready; collecting empty glasses and checking everyone was okay. He went upstairs and checked on the street party, and debated staying there because it was just as much fun as in the bar but cooler and he didn't have to avoid anyone, before eventually sitting down for couple of seconds next to the bar and looking around proudly, avoiding looking at his family.

He was used to it, by now, but for some reason he jumped almost out of his skin when someone sat on the barstool next to him.

"Hi." The girl said, and Louis forced himself to look at her and smile.

"Er, hi. I'm Louis-"  
>"Please, I know who you are. I'm Jennifer."<br>"Jennifer what?"  
>She just tilted her head, her long brown hair cascading over one shoulder as she did. "Is that really important?"<p>

He shook his head, realising that he'd actually asked for someone's surname. He never really asked before. "No, I guess it isn't." He looked back into the glass of water and didn't really know what else to say.

"Well, look, here's the thing. It's nearly midnight, and I've got no one to kiss. But you're Louis Weasley, so you're perfect for the job." He smirked, leaning towards him.

For some reason unknown to him, he leant back away from her.

"Er, any other night I would literally jump at the chance to kiss you. But I just... Not tonight." She looked at him with raised eyebrows, and he realised his reputation was fading hard and fast. "Because I… er, look I'm a free agent and I plan to bring in the New Year that way."

He stood up, to walk away, but she stood up too and smirked. "I don't see anyone else in your family planning on bringing in the New Year as a free agent."

"My family are boring. But come back tomorrow night and I might just prove that I'm definitely not." He winked, before heading back to Sam who was counting the boxes in front of him.

"All ready to go?"

"Ready as we'll ever be." Sam shrugged. "But before that are you sure you're alright?"  
>"Sam, mate, when am I ever not okay?"<p>

He signalled to the DJ, who stopped the music abruptly. Once everyone stopped cheering, Louis stood up on the bar, but still didn't say a word.

Then they started cheering his surname, and he laughed and stuck his tongue out at his family, clearly lip reading Dom calling him an attention seeker.

"Hey guys! Are you ready to welcome the New Year?"

Everyone cheered again, and when Louis joked that he couldn't hear them they cheered louder.

"Right, well if everyone'll take a glass of champagne that my staff are handing out, and just give me and my assistant here-"

Sam grumbled as he stood next to him.

"Just give us a second and we'll all be ready to party!"

He took his wand away from his throat, and turned to Sam.

"You ready?"  
>"If this goes wrong-"<br>"It won't! I had aurors to teach me."  
>"Scorpius taught you once. And the bar was empty. This bar's full; if it goes wrong-"<br>"Shh." Louis told Sam. "Right. 3… 2… 1…"

Louis and Sam both twisted their wands at the same time, towards the roof of the building. Before their eyes, as if expanding from the middle, the roof appeared to disappear, displaying the night sky above.

Louis couldn't help but turn and high five Sam when the roof was completely gone and the crowd's cheers just floated up into the sky instead of echoing around.

He tilted his head, and realised if he looked closely he could see the clock on the front of Gringotts; he had two minutes before midnight and he was _so_ ready for it.

"Weasleys bar, can you hear me?" He announced, and the crowd screamed. "Diagon Alley; can you hear me?" The cheers from out on the street resonated back into the bar. "Oi, Potters, can you hear me?" He yelled to his family, and James, Al, Louisa and Lily yelled back surprisingly loudly for just four people before the crowd returned to chanting surnames.

"I'd just like to say, 2032 has been amazing! But bring on '33!"

It seemed to him that the crowd would chant anything they said, because now they repeated 33 for a whole minute before Louis yelled, "Right, are you ready? 30, 29, 28…"

And so the whole bar counted down to midnight, and Louis stood and waited before setting off the fireworks Fred had given him. The bigger ones whizzed out of the bar and exploded in the sky in huge Weasley logos, 2023 numbers and stars. The smaller ones whizzed past people, circling them as they cheered and celebrated the new year.

Louis, now all his jobs were done, glanced up and looked across at his family, who celebrated together by hugging and kissing, while some couples intertwined. Louis couldn't help but stare at Jake and Lily for a little too long.

"I'm going to get a drink, I think I'm allowed one now." Louis told Sam, before jumping down to behind the bar and making his favourite drink calmly. Then he looked up again to see his family dancing away, Jake laughing with Jamie and Fred as they did so. Slightly less calmly, Louis poured three shots of firewhiskey and downed them in quick succession.

When he decided it was probably time to reopen the bar, he headed over his family to collect his final recruits. "Oi, Roxy, you ready?"

"Ready as we'll ever be." She replied walking towards him, dragging James and Fred with Dom following behind.

He felt the need to remind them all what to do, and while the girls remembered the boys seemed content enough to just climb on the bar and yell at people to buy their cocktails. After quarter of an hour of trying to make them do anything useful, he gave up and trusted that a combination of ex-head girl, beautiful blonde girl and trained bar staff would prevent anarchy from breaking out. Mainly because the firewhiskey had started to kick in and he really needed to sit down.

Taking a glance to where everyone else was, he snuck away to the back room and sat down on the sofa with a glass of water.

The music was still banging loudly through the door, and as the laughter on the other side got louder with the chants of "Fred" and "James" he started to realise that it was a bit weird that he wasn't out there with them having fun. It wasn't that he wasn't in the mood, or that he had too much work to be getting on with, but he just… He was too stubborn. He refused to go out to where Jake was partying with _his _family. That just wasn't fair.

It also wasn't fair that they'd ruined his new year though. He'd been looking forward to it for months; all his planning and organising seemed to have gone to waste. Well, not to waste; everyone else was having fun, but he'd been looking forward to finally letting himself chill out; now he just had something else to worry about.

He stayed there for a little while, generally feeling sorry for himself, before even he got fed up with himself. He got kind of angry, really, because he was not the type to let anyone ruin his fun. And Jake Thomas was no exception.

Standing up, he stormed (although he preferred to think of it as walked with purpose) towards the door and went to open it but someone else beat him to it.

Then he came face to face with the guy he'd decided had ruined his night.

"Oh, hey Louis! You've been busy tonight, haven't you?" Lily asked, smiling.  
>"Why's he going in here? Family only, you know that."<p>

"Louis, don't be like that." Her face fell.  
>"Mate, I'm not here to pick a fight-" Jake began.<br>"No, neither am I." Louis replied, his gaze locked on Jake's, ignoring Lily. "But I'm not your mate. And this is my bar. And this back room is only for Weasleys, or Potters."  
>"Or Malfoys or Wrenshaws or Woodwards-" Lily replied.<p>

"Or people I trust." Louis concluded, still glaring at Jake. "You're not one of them. So you're not allowed in there."  
>"And what if I married him? Then what, Louis; if he's a Potter can he go in there?"<p>

"That's ridiculous; why would you-?"  
>"Because I love him."<p>

Then he forced himself to look at her, and she looked so sincere that for a second he stopped being quite as angry.

"Then I'd have to think about it, but I don't think I'd let either of you in here at all." He turned to Jake and narrowed his eyes. "Because I don't like him, and clearly you're too stupid to make sensible decisions and I don't want someone like that in my bar."

"Oh for god's sake, Jake just ignore him-" Lily began, grabbing his arm and pulling him further towards the door.

Louis stuck his arm out in front of them and smirked. "Look, I don't want to cause any trouble by asking you to leave." He said smarmily, "So if you could just follow my rules-"  
>"Louis will you just grow up? You're not 16 anymore, you don't have to be so bloody insecure about whether your best friend likes someone else more than you." Louis opened his mouth to retort but couldn't. "You don't need to prove you're a man by yelling at people or pulling girls. I'm proud to say that I'm not the same person I was in school; so's Jake and Hugo, and Roxy and James and Fred… But you've not changed one bit!"<p>

Louis raised his eyebrows, feeling a little like he'd been punched in the stomach by words.

"Reality hurts, doesn't it?" Lily smirked, and Louis realised that everyone in his family could be just as evil as each other.  
>"No." Louis replied, straightening up. Because he refused to let them beat him. "I just think you have a pretty warped sense of reality. Maybe you caught it off this guy." He gestured to Jake, who had kind of shrunk into the doorframe and seemed to just be watching. "Because both of you think you're dishing out 'reality' when you tell me I'm not grown up or that I don't care about my family," he narrowed his eyes at Jake. "But really, it just shows how little the two of you know me."<p>

With that, he turned around, beginning to head back into the party.

"You have a side of the bed." Jake's voice carried over the music, and Louis didn't turn around but stopped, mostly out of shock. "Every girl you ever sleep with, you'll always end up asleep on the right hand side. And you deliberately did badly in your OWLS because you thought it made you seem cooler, but when you realised it was going to screw your NEWTs you used to secretly get up two hours before everyone else so that you could work. You planned opening this bar when you were 14, but you wouldn't tell anyone because you thought it was stupid. And I bet you're so, so proud of what you've done and that you succeeded, but sometimes you hate that you never told your family it was what you wanted all along, because somehow them thinking you thought of it when you were 19 cheapens it a little. You love your family more than you could ever love any girl, and even though you'll never admit it I know that you hated leaving Lily to fend for herself even if you thought it was the right thing to do, which is why I said all those things I said to you because I wanted you to change your mind." Louis still didn't turn around, but carried on listening like he was addicted. "When you finished school you said you burnt all your uniform because you were glad you left, but you secretly kept your tie. When Al got injured you couldn't visit because it upset you too much but you came in to ask the doctors how he was doing every day, sometimes twice. You're probably still secretly trying to teach yourself the rules of Quidditch." Louis hated that he laughed a little at that, so forced himself to turn around but still not walk towards them. "Never say I don't know you." Jake shrugged, and Louis was about to speak before Jake carried on, walking towards him a little. "You tell people you're mad at me because you think I care more about girls than you, but really it's because you think I'm choosing Lily over you all over again and you're jealous. You're annoyed I didn't try to find you the same way I found her. But I didn't try to be your friend again because I thought you wouldn't want me to, and because you have better friends than me; one's who didn't let you down the way I did. And I know I can't undo that easily, who knows, maybe I never will. But I am, and always will be, in love with your cousin and that's not changing. And I'm with her now, and I'm telling you that you just have to accept it, even though I know you, and I know you hate being told what to do."  
>Louis looked at Jake, who had now linked his hands with Lily and was looking back at him and completely meeting his gaze.<p>

Louis wanted to stay angry, he really did. But somehow, it was difficult. Maybe it's because he realised that he did feel sixteen again, but he wasn't and he needed to stop acting it. Maybe because he was surprised by how much Jake still knew about him. Maybe it was because Lily looked happy, and Louis would rather he was happy with Jake than with certain other people…

"I need a drink." He stated. "Do either of you want one? Because you can just go right up to the bar and ask. Or tell me and I'll get someone to bring them to you, if you want to go in there."

He decided to be the bigger person. Really, it made a change.

Lily just smiled really widely. "We'll come and get one with you, if you'd like?"

Louis groaned. "Sure, but he's paying." He gestured to Jake, who smiled at him nervously.

"What? I'm family." Lily pouted.

Louis shrugged as they reached the bar and he yelled his order to Roxy, remembering Lily and Jake's orders from earlier in the night and asking for those too. "My bar, my rules." He told Lily.

He loved that he could say that.


	10. 12th June, 2033

_**Disclaimer: **_Harry Potter never has been and never will be mine. Everything I have ever written I owe entirely to JKR and her inspiring works.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Nobody Said It Was Easy<br>**_**12****th**** June, 2033**

James tilted his chair back and stretched, smiling to himself as energy whizzed through his muscles for the first time in weeks. He was actually awake for a change, enjoying the fact the house was quiet for once and that he was alone. Not that he didn't adore his family, but for once it was nice that he could hear his own thoughts and concentrate on himself.

It was early though, to say it was a Sunday. But he guessed he was now just at a time in his life when he didn't sleep in any more. He was automatically awake before eight o'clock, and he found himself irritated if he wasn't; he saw it as a wasted day. When he realised that, he groaned to himself that he really was getting old. He was sat, on a Sunday morning, at half 7 in the morning, stretching and being pleased that he didn't have anything to do all day. He sounded like his Dad.

He stood up, getting breakfast for himself for the sake of doing something. As the bacon sizzled he sighed contentedly, and wondered what he planned to do with his day.

He had the whole day free for a change; not just a few hours, but a whole day. Until Louisa came back from her parents late tonight.

It wasn't that he didn't like his in-laws, but he really didn't feel like crashing a car again after a long hard week of work. Because his father in law kept insisting that James _"needed to learn how to drive now that he was a father"_. And thankfully Louisa, being as wonderfully understanding as she was, agreed to go up and see her parents and take Arthur with her, so James could have some time to himself.

He really loved his wife.

He finished toasting his bread, put the perfectly cooked bacon in between the slices, and sat down at the table ready to start his Sunday of bliss.

Then he heard a crash from the lounge. And many years of being an Auror meant that he instantly grabbed his wand, jumped up, and ran to the next room ready to attack.

"Put your wands on the floor!" he yelled, before a woman's scream interrupted him.

His sister stood in the fireplace, breathing deeply. "Jesus, James, you nearly gave me a heart attack!"

James exhaled, lowering his wand. "What was that noise, Lils?" He asked tiredly.  
>"I knocked over the childproof thingy."<p>

"Of course you did…" He sighed, putting his wand in his pocket. "So, what are you doing here?"

"I'll be right back, I just need to round everyone up."

"Be right ba- Lily what are you on about?" He asked, wondering if he'd forgotten something, or if he had any explanation as to why his sister was so awake and had arrived in his house as if it was normal for 7:40 on a Sunday morning.

"I'm sorry, you'll find out in a minute. I just… Give me ten minutes."  
>"Lily!" He yelled after her as she disappeared into the flames again.<p>

He stared for a moment or two, before sighing and resigning himself to the crazy that was his little sister. Then he walked back into the kitchen, picked up his sandwich and bit into it, before he heard another crash. This time he didn't even flinch.

"James?"

He went back into the lounge and smirked at Hugo, who was only wearing tracksuit bottoms and a hoody, and looked like he'd only been awake for about a minute.

"Lily said we had to get here as quickly as we could. What's going on?"

"I'll be damned if I know. She came in, apologised, and said she'd be right back."

"And then she strolled into my room and woke me up. Andy didn't even wake up, despite the amount she shook the bed to get me out."

Hugo sat down on the sofa, so James sat in his armchair and they both watched the fire, Hugo still rubbing his eyes sleepily.

"I'm going to kill your sister." Fred announced as he stepped out of the flames a few minutes later. "She woke up the twins. Actually, scratch that; Anna's going to kill her, I've left her with both of them. What's so important anyway?"

James shrugged. "I've got no idea."

Fred sighed, sitting down on the sofa and leaning his head back with his eyes closed. "If she's getting married or having a baby, I don't care at this time in the morning."  
>"If she's getting married and Jake hasn't asked my permission, I won't be impressed."<p>

Hugo groaned. "God, can you imagine the stag do if Louis' organising it?"  
>"I don't think I have the stamina anymore."<br>As the boys groaned, Roxy arrived in the fire, with Dom (pregnant again) not far behind. Both of them were tired, but just sat down quietly and waited too.

When Al arrived he went straight into the kitchen, without a word. When James asked what he was doing he turned back and raised his eyebrows. "Lily said she was getting Rose next. Coffee will be needed."

Sure enough, Rose did arrive next, stepping out of the flames and glaring. "Don't say anything, unless it's 'would you like coffee?'"

"I'm sorting it!" Al called from the kitchen.

Rose smiled, slightly. "And to think, I used to get really annoyed by you. Now I think you're my favourite." She sat down on the floor, no more sofa room left, as she complained about being woken up.

Lily popped up in the fire again, smiling. "Hey guys, I won't be too much longer; Louis' not at home but I have to find him."  
>"How? He could be anywhere, Lily." Dom told her. "Can't you just tell us?"<br>"Yeah Lils, when's the wedding?"

Lily blinked, as if she'd stopped thinking and was actually listening to what they said. "I'm not… I'm not getting married, that's not what this is."

"Dear god, you're having a baby." Fred complained, putting his head in his hands. "I thought this day would never come-"

"Do you seriously think I look pregnant?" Lily demanded. "Seriously?"  
>Al shook his head, "Rookie mistake, Fred. You never say anyone looks pregnant."<p>

"Yeah, now Lily thinks she looks fat." Rose commented tiredly, sighing into her mug of coffee.

"Do I?" Lily looked down, then glared in Fred's direction and opened her mouth again.

"Have you tried the bar?" Hugo interrupted, and Lily stopped smoothing her top down and looked at him confusedly.

"What?"  
>"For Louis. Have you tried the bar?" He asked, as Fred and Al looked at him gratefully.<p>

"It's half seven; why would he still be at the bar?"

Hugo just smirked. "Trust me."

Lily nodded, disappearing again.

"Seriously, though what is going on?" Roxy asked them, "I've got loads of work to do, and I can't just sit here all day-"

"I've left Scorp alone with Emma, but she'll need feeding soon-"  
>"At least you're not being kicked internally." Dom complained, angling herself differently.<p>

"Guys, Lily knows how busy we all are." Hugo said calmly. "You know she wouldn't do this if it wasn't important."

They all nodded in agreement, before watching the flames again.

Louis appeared in the moments later, in a shirt and jeans, a tie wrapped around his waist and his hair messed up. He leant his head against the edge of the fireplace and sighed, before sinking down to the floor to sit down.

"Did you sleep at all last night?" Dom asked.

"No, it was a Saturday night." Louis replied, squinting in her direction. "Or was it a Friday? What day is it?"

"Still drunk?" Fred asked, and the blonde boy just groaned in reply.

Then Lily arrived, and everyone looked at her expectantly. Even Louis craned his head to the side.

"So why are we here?" Fred asked bluntly.

Lily shuffled, biting her lip awkwardly. James couldn't help but remember the time she'd broken their mother's photo frame when she was seven; she had exactly the same expression then.

"I, er, I wrote an article for the Prophet."

They carried on looking at her confusedly, expecting her to expand but she just bit her lip harder.  
>"That's the news?" Al asked. "You write articles every week, Lils."<p>

"I know but, er… This one's about you." She said it quickly, before exhaling as if she'd finally got her worries off her mind.

Everyone else still didn't understand.

"You've written articles about Al before." James pointed out, and the rest of his family looked at her in confusion too.

"No it's…" She cleared her throat. "It's about all of you. It's been ten years since we started to leave Hogwarts and my editor wanted an article on it and… Yeah, I wrote about you."

They were quiet for a moment, looking at each other as if trying to decide on their reaction, before their thoughts were interrupted by a slam on the window.

"What the hell?" Louis complained, nursing his head from the noise.

"It's the Prophet delivery." James said, standing tiredly and opening the window, where an owl sat on the floor with a paper in it's mouth. He took it and instantly saw his own surname, and pictures from the last day of school and from Christmas last year smiled up at him.

"You wanted to warn us before we read it, didn't you?" He asked turning back to his sister, who nodded and carried on looking at the floor. "I don't think you'll be mad, I just didn't want it to be a surprise and I… I wanted to see what you thought."

James nodded understandingly, walking back to his chair and passing Roxy and Dom the paper on his way.

"Lily it's on the front cover!" Dom exclaimed.

"Well of course it is, it's about us." Louis shook his head, reaching up and trying to yank it out of his cousin's hand.

"No, no, no. I'll read it." Roxy announced, holding the paper tightly.  
>"Yeah, bro, she was head girl."<br>"I was head girl too!" Rose complained, having woken up thanks to the coffee. "Can't I read it?"

"What about me?" Al asked.

"I don't think so, Severus."

"Oi, don't pick on the cripple!" Al replied sarcastically, and James laughed as Fred whined.

"Can't I read it?"  
>"Can you even read?" Roxy replied to her brother, who pulled a face in reply. "It's fine, I'll do it-"<br>"You read everything!"

The conversation continued in this way, with Fred indignantly defending his reading skills while Al complained about supposed prejudice. Rose started debating with Hugo about her head girl skills, while Dom somehow started to complain about pregnancy again.

James just smirked to himself. "Wow, you wouldn't know we were all adults would you?" He asked loudly, and they all silenced and turned to him. "I mean, we have kids ourselves, and yet here you guys are, bickering over who gets to read; we could still be in Hogwarts." He laughed, and they joined in, until eventually they weren't laughing at the situation, they were just laughing because they couldn't stop.

"You should read it, James." Lily smiled, and everyone nodded once they'd calmed down; even Al. "You're the oldest."

"Um, yeah I guess I could." He replied, as Roxy handed the paper to him and he read the title. "But Lils you wrote it, don't you want to-"  
>"No. Definitely not. It was weird enough writing it."<p>

"Go for it, J." Fred told him, leaning back into the sofa. After all this build up, I just want to hear it."

James laughed a little, before clearing his throat dramatically and beginning to read. "_One hundred and one ways to improve your flying technique, edition eighty three-"  
><em>"James!"

"Okay, okay." James sighed, before nodding and beginning to read the real article, surrounded by his family, who laughed in the right places and smiled sadly at the right times. They hung on every word Lily wrote, and James couldn't help but smile to himself sometimes.

Because even ten years later, nothing had changed.

Sure, they were older and they had children and responsibilities now, but they were still together. They still had each other, they still bickered, they still laughed, and they still cared.

He didn't think that would ever change. He didn't ever want it to change.

…

_**Lily Potter asks; the next generation, ten years on, where are they now?**_

_Admittedly, I bet you're reading this title and are completely confused as to why I am asking this question. They're my family; of course I know where they are. However, in last month's review meeting, my editor suggested this title and the entire office went a little crazy for it; I'm not lying when I say that wands were drawn in the effort to get this story. I, however, found myself asking the same question I ask whenever anyone gets excited about our bar shifts or a stranger congratulates me on a cousin's wedding… Why does everyone care about what happens in my family so much? Why is it such a great source of entertainment to everyone to have known what our OWL grades were, or to have spotted us in the Three Broomsticks? Why was it that my surname was the only reason I really originally got this job? So I asked to take the story. And even though I was glared at by many competing reporters, my editor was kind enough to give it to me. I think she thought she was going to get the inside scoop. But she's not. Much._

_My cousins, my brothers and I, always used to wonder why we were so adored. We've always been able to understand why people cared about our parents and grandparents, but it took as a long time to realise why you were all so interested in us. When we were teenagers, and the articles and reports on us were less than flattering, we thought we'd figured it out for a minute there; we thought you were all waiting for us to mess up. But then, in my case at least, I realised that couldn't possibly be true; if it were then the articles would have stopped when I got my life back in order, I wouldn't have been sent so many supportive letters encouraging me to sort things out, and you would all still be waiting on tenterhooks for me to mess things up again. _

_When I was eighteen, I finally figured it out. I left school and was barricaded with letters from people saying how proud they were of me; how old they felt that I'd actually left Hogwarts; making sure I had plans for the future and that I was going to be okay… Every letter sounded like it was written from my family, and that's when I realised why you like to read about us so much… You care. You've watched us grow up and you want to make sure we're alright. Just like every other family, it's interesting to sometimes gossip as things go a little wrong, but underneath it all you still want us to make it through to the other side. Sometimes I feel like I wasn't just brought up by the Weasleys and Potters watching over me; I was brought up by the whole wizarding world. And for that, since none of us ever do and we complained an awful lot when we were younger, I want to begin by saying thank you. _

_Believe it or not, the above paragraphs are my introduction. The purpose of this article wasn't for me to babble on about how you're sometimes like overbearing Aunts and Uncles, nor was it for me to (subtly) point out that some of those reports really did some damage sometimes (I had to mention it somewhere). No, this article is for you to catch up on your extended family. The only reason I've written all of this so far is to find out why you want to know in the first place. _

_So, my family. The Weasleys and Potters. The men, the myths and the legends. Ten years ago, the first few of us graduated from Hogwarts; the oldest ones. The guardians of the whole family, who had spent seven years watching over us in Hogwarts and were now leaving us to fend for ourselves while they explored the big wide world. And got a little lost in it, in Dom's case. Then Rose, Scorpius and Al left, and suddenly less than half of us remained. When Louis left (though for a while we doubted he would ever make it out and pass his NEWTs) there was just the two of us, Hugo and I. And we realised that, really, the Weasley and Potter's lives weren't in Hogwarts anymore; we were bitterly outnumbered and became just another pupil. Then we left too, and all of us were free. We've definitely made the most of our freedom._

_Speaking of freedom, I think Dom's the first I'll tell you about. I don't plan for this article to be in any specific order, not age or favourite or sex. I'm just going to write, and I don't plan on going backwards to edit this even once because I'll realise who I'm writing about and freak myself out. So, Dominique Weasley; the brave, beautiful blonde who left school with a reputation that she so badly didn't want to follow her that she fled to France for three years. She does admit now that it may not have been her smartest move, but nonetheless it helped mould her into everything she is today. And everything she is today is the same brave, beautiful blonde but with short hair and a wonderful husband (the first of us to get married, funnily enough), and a daughter who is the spitting image of herself. Gabrielle Weasley is the single most beautiful child you've ever seen (Apart from all my other nephews and nieces of course…!) and is raised so beautifully every day that it's sometimes a little scary to realise that she's already 5 years old and that in 10 years she'll be living it up in Hogwarts and rebelling against everything anyone says… Or maybe that was just me. Dom works in the Ministry of Magic (as do many of my family members, I realise now that I've made some notes) and is expecting her second child soon who I do not doubt will be just as perfect as her first. Ironically enough, as she did last time, Dominique has managed to time her pregnancy so she and her sister can whine about it all together, which leads me on perfectly to my next victim…_

_Victoire Weasley's the oldest of all of us, by quite a long way really. Bill and Fleur once admitted that they hadn't exactly planned on having her so early and just got caught up in all the end-of-war celebrations, but I don't think anyone for a second could imagine our life without her. For one, think how lonely Teddy would be. While I realise Teddy isn't an official member of the family, I think I should mention him in here too for the sole reason that he's one of us. Teddy and Vic have always had each other; since they were the two oldest they always had their own inside jokes and secrets for only each other and everyone knew how inevitable it was that they would end up together. Although no one expected it to get revealed by my big mouth brother on Al's first day of school, but again, that is another story. In my family, childhood sweethearts who are destined to be together seem to be the norm, and Teddy and Vic are just one example of this. Married for 6 years, no one could imagine the two of them with anyone else. Their daughter, Molly III (known as just Molly though; it would be weird if we yelled "3!" out whenever we wanted her), is the best example of how perfect they are because of how perfect she is… Although I'm ashamed to say I sometimes lose her in a crowd when she changes the way she looks, but she's always as beautiful as ever. _

_I guess I should now bring up the other Molly and Lucy, who are my far-less-famous cousins. I know you don't see very much of them, but admittedly neither do we. As you probably know, our Uncle Percy opted not to send them to Hogwarts, to protect them from the wizarding world and some of the hurt it can cause. I'm not going to judge that decision, because I completely understand and Lucy and Molly would probably both agree that they prefer their life to the way ours has been (by which I mean under a spotlight since we were born), but I will mention this; they're fine, they're happy, and they're not complete outcasts from our family; Molly was in Weasleys bar last week and no one recognised her. James was jealous. _

_I guess that brings me straight to my brother, who has always been in the spotlight; James Sirius Potter. I'm not entirely sure what I can tell you that you don't already know, since he seems to be the Prophet's favourite. And understandably so. Because I am so, so proud of everything my brother's done; I've looked up to him since I was tiny and I still do to this day. Although he used to be quite irritating, such as the day of my seventh birthday when he ate all of my cake and then blamed Al (he still owe me for that actually…) Anyway, he's always been prepared to do anything necessary to protect his family, and I think that's continued to the point where he'll protect the whole country as much as he can; he and Scorpius were named as joint Heads of The Auror Office last year and only last week I wrote a report that crime was down by approximately 12% thanks to them. Whilst it's difficult, this is the point at which I guess I'm forced to bring up James and his wonderful wife's recent well-publicised tragedies. Although having labelled them as well-publicised I will admit that our family was surprised by just how respectful the press was, in the light of the way Dominique's disappearance had been covered at times… But that's not the point. The point is that, despite aforementioned tragedies, Louisa and James were blessed enough to welcome baby Arthur into the world last month on James', and I quote, "greatest day his life." Yes, my brother really is that sappy. The same way he was sappy enough to marry, and now have a child with, the same girl he's dated since seventh year of Hogwarts; the same one he swore to me he was going to marry in his first summer home from school (and yes, that is your exclusive because I've never mentioned it until now). They are, yet another, example of the childhood sweethearts that are so common in my family. _

_Maybe there's just something wrong with us, or we all inherited it from our parents, but a lot of us end up married to the people we fall in love with in high school. _

_Although, not all of us have as smooth a journey as James and Louisa or Vic and Teddy did. No, I'm not referring to myself (that's later…) I'm in fact turning to Roxy and Jamie to truly demonstrate the tale of "destined-lovers". Many people think that Roxy was "the boring one" because she was head-girl, and got perfect exam results and has never had an article entirely on something scandalous she's done (and I mean that, because I've looked through the archives and apart from Roxy we've all had our own front cover at one time or another), but I assure you she is anything but boring. However, due to this horrific misconception, people don't know the amazing story of "Joxy" as I like to call them, so I've taken it upon myself to tell it. We begin on the first day of Hogwarts, and Jamie Wrenshaw and Roxanne Weasley's eyes met across the hall and it was love at first sight (I may be taking some artistic liberties but it's romantic…). Of course, the path of true love never did run smooth and they didn't think to tell each other about their infatuation until seven years later. Then they broke up another year later, the pressure of leaving the safety of the bubble that is Hogwarts proving to be far too much for them. Thankfully, though, they only suffered separately for seven years (it sounds a lot longer when I write it down) before reuniting and living happily ever after. They're both so dedicated to their careers (Roxy's single-handedly reforming the young-wizard educational system while Jamie's busy at St Mungo's) that they have yet to have children, but I'm assured (or at least my grandmother is assured) that it is in their plans of the future. I don't doubt that they'll probably have two at once. _

_Because, you see, twins seem to run in that side of the family. Molly had Fred and George, George had Roxy and Fred II, Fred II had Angie and Oliver, and I don't doubt the chain will continue… And apparently, if you asked Fred at least, having twins is a pain. George never fails to tease Fred about the night, a week after the twins were born, that Fred went to his father's house and announced that he'd somehow managed to spawn the two worst children to ever exist. Apparently "every time one sleeps the other wakes up, and they always both want changing and feeding at the same time and it's physically impossible!". How had George Weasley responded? He'd laughed and asked why he'd left Anna alone with the two of them, then, and told him that it was really only going to get worse; "you've heard of the Terrible Twos, right? Well then you should really prepare for the Terrible Two Twins." Ever since then Fred seems to have been much more appreciative of his father and willing to help with anything he can; Angelina thinks he's trying to make it up to them. That's another thing; as well as twins and childhood sweethearts (of which Anna and Fred are yet another perfect example), marrying Quidditch stars also runs in the family. Harry married Ginny, George married Angelina and Fred married (the superstar) Anna Wood. I'm not going to lie; when I first started working at the Prophet, I used to get ridiculously overexcited every time I mentioned her scoring. _

_I had a similar feeling every time I reported on my brother's success in Quidditch. Although I would never, ever have admitted just how proud I was of him back then. Right now, I wish I'd told him every day, because it was ripped away from him so quickly. I'm going to try not to go on about it too much, because I know he doesn't like to talk about it and I know that he likes hearing us be sympathetic about him much less… But I just have to write down how proud I was, but more than that how proud I am. Because I am so proud of everything he's achieved, and that even though he tumbled down (unfortunately literally) he's still found a way to come back, higher than ever. Now, he and Louis are… What would be the nice way to put it? Well, it's well known that they both enjoyed the single life, more of which I will mention when I get onto Louis, but thankfully, now, he could be settling down. Not to the extent that I'll tell you all who with. But it could be happening; he could be growing up. You know, when I was younger, I used to wonder what he'd be like as a grown up. I can't wait to find out._

_I may as well continued to look at "the second Golden Trio" and talk about Scorpius and Rose now. Now I know that there will be some of you who don't think Scorpius should be this article; "he's not a Weasley!". But he is. He has been since he arrived at Hogwarts, became best friends with Al, and fell in love with Rose. And his daughter's a Weasley; Emma has blonde hair like her father but Weasley freckles; she's the perfect combination of Malfoy and Weasley. And Scorpius is one of the most amazing people I've ever known, considering the way he's been treated because of his surname; he's loyal and brave and willing to do anything to make the world a better place. He and James together really are the auror dream-team. He and Rose, who is her mother's daughter in almost every way as demonstrated by her complete overhaul of the wizarding prejudice laws, are the perfect example of how the world's moved on and that love overcomes everything. And one of my fondest memories of my family will always be the day we found out about the two them; none of us were really surprised, and the boys treated Scorpius just like they would treat any of our boyfriends; sat him down and warned him never to hurt her. He never did. _

_You see, my family's always had these kinds of traditions; any boyfriends are ruthlessly torn apart before they're allowed to carry on dating one of the girls, "Weasley corner" existed in the Gryffindor common room for a decade and we still sit there if we ever visit, James and Albus will almost always refer to each other as their middle names, we still feel a little sick whenever one of us goes all out on the PDAs… And now we always hang out in the same place. Although we are sometimes forced to work there… Yes, I'm talking about Weasley's bar. Although I guess I could be talking about Potter's in Edinburgh (yes, Louis, you're welcome for the less-than-subtle, unnecessary advertising). I remember the day Louis told us he was opening the bar, and while the boys thought it was cool the girls (including me) raised our eyebrows at him and checked he definitely knew what he was doing. Over and over again; Dom and Vic sat him down for four hours and explained what a risk he was taking… But it turned out that he really did know what he was doing. He made more of himself than any of us expected him to, and I'm so proud of him for that. So proud. Although, we're not the only ones who look up him; he is quite the lady's man. Although unlike Al, he doesn't look like he's settling down any time soon… The closest he ever came was following a girl around for six months demanding a date, getting it, and then announcing his job was done. I think we'd all die from shock if he ever formally introduced us to a girl; we've had quite enough surprises. _

_I guess we're now onto my generation; the two babies of the Weasleys, Hugo and I. And since discussing myself is going to be really difficult, I'm going to turn to my cousin, and one of my best friends in the whole world. When Hugo Weasley announced to his family (and, due to media coverage, the whole of the wizarding world at the same time) that he was gay, no one's going to lie and say they weren't surprised (except Louis, but that's only because he caught them) but other than Louis, everyone was rather surprised by his announcement that he'd been in love with (yet another childhood sweetheart) Andy for three years. But from almost the second he did, I feel like I've known the real him. He will always be the bravest person I know, and you know who my father is. But I think everyone underestimates just how hard it was for him to be honest with himself, then be honest with his family, and then have the whole world judge him for his honesty. I will always be so honoured to call him my friend, even if he is no better at shopping than he was before. He works with dragons for Merlin's sake, I'm not sure what I expected..._

_I guess now we look at me. Now, I'm not going to rant about how well 've done for myself but I will admit that I am pleased with who I am and what I've achieved. I can only attribute my success to my wonderful family and my (yes, I'm another one) childhood sweetheart, Jake, and say that without them, I would never have achieved any of my accomplishments. I'm forever grateful to them for saving me._

_My family is all I've ever known, and while it's not always easy (there were a few years of Hogwarts that were a little hit and miss, as you know) I can't imagine it any other way. They're perfect. _

_I know earlier I wrote that I think you read these kind of things because you care, but I've actually changed my mind again. I think you do it because you're jealous; I know I would be. I'm so proud that I have my family and I wouldn't give them up for the world._

_So that's where we are ten years on; it's definitely not been a boring few years. _

_Who knows what it'll be like in another decade…? _


	11. Notice from the Author at 1am

Hi guys,

So its been just under three years since I even looked at this story, or since I've read and acknowledged the reviews I used to have and continue to receive. I'm still so grateful and can't quite believe it. It used to be such a huge part of my life and such a huge escape, and in hindsight I don't think I ever really appreciated just what this story achieved.

I guess I let people down a little; after the sequel I never posted again although it was fully my intention to.

A lot has changed in three years; this website, for one; I had no idea how to post this. My username has also changed, but I promise I'm still the same author, I'm just trying to cover my tracks a little.

I guess the reason I'm posting is that I'm about to have a huge chunk of free time in a few months, and these characters have also recently been coming in my head and telling me what they've been up to. I have a few ideas, not to mention about 20 drabbles that I wrote alongside the story, that never made the cut in the original.

Is anyone still out there? Or has everyone grown up and not interested anymore? Please let me know, guys, because if you're still interested I'd be more than happy to keep my characters going. The stories might even be better written now! Not to mention that I think I'm a little less of a blue-sky thinker these days.

Please let me know, anyway; message me or review this story or drop me an ask on tumblr (Flitwickslittlebrother). Is there somewhere better or more convenient now that I could post them? Give me ideas, requests, or just tell me to go away because you haven't had an email from in years and its annoying.

Lots of love. x


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